Trainer Caspar Fownes has Money Man headed towards the Juvenile Championship next Saturday and the Redoute's Choice gelding staked his claim impressively under barrier trial conditions at Sha Tin yesterday.
The two-year-old, who has raced three times for a win and two seconds, was fitted with blinkers and the added concentration of the vision-reducing equipment had the intended effect, with Money Man careering away to win the trial by four lengths.
Shane Dye, who has been doing quite a bit of riding for the Fownes stable in the latter part of the season, kept Money Man well on the bridle in the final 200 metres and the margin could have been significantly larger had Dye wanted.
Money Man has not raced since April 1 when second to Butterfield in a griffin race over 1,200m. The juvenile was joint leader early but because of the very fast pace, jockey Brett Prebble elected to ease and take a trail behind Inspiration and Winning Fellowship.
Prebble pulled around the leaders in the straight, hit the front before the 200m but then succumbed to the strong late finish of the staying-bred Butterfield.
Money Man is not a big horse - he weighed in at only 1,004 pounds at his last start - but he appears to have put on condition during his lay-off and looked significantly stronger at the business end of this trial.
Money Man's winning time of 1:12.3 was 0.8 seconds slower than Stable Mail took to win the first of the morning's two heats, but the two-year-old's final 400m of 23.9 seconds was 0.5 seconds quicker.
