Not many horses own a 50 per cent strike rate after 10 starts but that's the scoreline of classy four-year-old Towering Feeling and he may well improve his stats next time out, judging by the way he disposed of the opposition in a barrier trial at Sha Tin yesterday.
Towering Feeling, ridden by Douglas Whyte, bounced straight to the lead in the trial over 1,050 metres and lobbed along effortlessly at the head of affairs until Howard Cheng Yue-tin on Zavone rushed up outside him at the 800m.
When forced to speed up slightly, Towering Feeling did so without any real effort but it was approaching the 200m that the New Zealand-bred gelding showed his prowess.
In a twinkling, his powers of acceleration saw Zavone drop off like a swatted fly and Towering Feeling cleared out to score by six lengths without being pressured by Whyte.
Raced by Jockey Club steward Anthony Chow Win-kin and Michael Tong Hing-yuen, Towering Feeling is a son of the versatile Mr Prospector stallion Faltaat, whose progeny can either sprint or stay depending on the stamina input from his female partners.
Towering Feeling was set for this year's Hong Kong Derby but was the last horse eliminated to reduce the field to the 14 safety limit - at the time he owned a domestic rating of 89 and the cut-off point was 90.
However, he has been a wonderful horse for his owners and the David Ferraris yard, winning five races and HK$2.73 million in prize money with the promise of significantly more to come.
