A change of jockey and some improvised tactics transformed highly bred Danesis, with the handsome bay looking every bit a HK$7.5 million horse with a monster win on the all-weather track. Danesis was last year's top-priced colt at the Hong Kong International Sale, with the price easily eclipsing the old record of HK$6 million set three years earlier. But with every record comes a weight of expectation that this colt, at least, dispensed with easily. Brett Prebble took over on Danesis yesterday and from a tricky barrier (13), trainer Tony Cruz left the options squarely in the hands of the outstanding Australian horseman. Cruz doesn't like to tie top jockeys down with set game plans. He told Prebble that he was welcome to take up the running if Danesis began well, but at the same time recognised the folly of forcing him otherwise. 'As it happened, he slipped at the start, and Brett did the intelligent thing and took hold while a wall of six horses charged for the front at the first turn,' the trainer said. 'From there, Brett rode a beautiful race, but the way the horse finished when ridden like that certainly showed us more of what he's got.' And what he's got was awesome indeed, as Prebble threaded Danesis through a series of inside runs before challenging Darren Beadman on Courageousheart at the 200m. But instead of engaging in a duel with John Moore's stable rider, Prebble and Danesis accelerated away and ultimately posted a 43/4 length margin. 'That was really something, and it was impressive enough for us to rethink our options with him,' Cruz said. 'The next suitable dirt race for him is a fair way off, so his next start will definitely be on the turf. But the way he's gone here today, you wouldn't be afraid to take on a similar class of horse on the turf.' Danesis, like many of the Danehill breed, has a great constitution that thrives on hard work and it's not easy to keep his waistline under control. 'I've been pouring the work into him but he keeps gaining weight,' Cruz said. 'But this time, he's backed up just two weeks after his last run, and that's been a significant factor, I think, the race fitness.' There will be stud farms all over the world watching the development of Danesis as a potential stallion. Not only is he by Danehill - whose sire sons include Redoute's Choice, Flying Spur, Danehill Dancer, Desert King and Danasinga- but he is a half-brother to America's champion juvenile of 1993, Dehere, who has also been a very successful sire. Sister Dot, the dam of Dehere and Danesis, is a daughter of the fabled 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, so the quality of the pedigree is certainly there, layer upon layer. Cruz later made it a double taking the feature race with Kimbo Kid, giving apprentice Alex Lai Hoi-wing a memorable victory on his last day as an apprentice. Lai will ride from Wednesday night as a senior jockey, but still claiming three pounds.