Punters won't need to look any further than the Dream Team of John Size and Douglas Whyte for the winner of a Chinese Recreation Club Challenge Cup (1,600m) at Sha Tin today which could have significance for bigger targets later in the season. Whyte's mount Dao Dao was a promising horse in three starts in Australia, where he was owned in the same interests, and is still bursting with potential at just his second Hong Kong outing this afternoon. Dao Dao's lone defeat in three three-year-old attempts in Sydney was at the hands of Sniper's Bullet, later a Group One winner and one of Australia's best sprinter-milers. First-up on opening day at Sha Tin, Dao Dao looked above himself in condition and still only went down narrowly to the smart Triumphant Diamond - trained by Danny Shum Chap-shing - giving him weight over 1,400m. From gate one this time, Whyte should have Dao Dao nicely set up in the run and how much the gelding improves on his first outing has some interest for the major four-year-old races. Of course, Dao Dao has a long way to go to races like the Classic Mile or the Derby off his current rating of 80, but he is a top liner on looks and everything he has done on the racetrack so far has suggests he will go much higher in the classifications with time and as he stretches out in distance. If there is a negative about the galloper today at likely very short odds, it is simply that he is second up after having a serious run first time out. That can flatten a horse but Size is clearly happy enough with Dao Dao to bring him back fairly quickly. Looking for any danger, Derek Cruz also has a smart four-year-old - lightly raced Operation Secret (Felix Coetzee) - but he is resuming and drawn wide, neither of which is in his favour. John Moore's Classic Reunion (Zac Purton) was most disappointing first-up behind Triumphant Diamond and it is probably asking for too much that he could improve to win. However, he has looked his best when able to get forward in the past and the softer tempo of 1,600m might help him to do that.
