Open races are the order of the evening at tonight's all-weather fixture at Sha Tin, and nowhere is that better illustrated than in the fourth event where early players were unable to provide any market lead at all.
At 7pm last night, the race over 1,650 metres for Class Five battlers gave rise to the most open betting event in ages, with Tale Of Friendship the early favourite at the incredibly wide price of HK$78.
Couldn't Care Less, trained by Andreas Schutz, was second elect at HK$86, ahead of Douglas Whyte's mount Dragon Stride at HK$92.
Normally, in this environment, a favourite priced at around HK$55 will be indicative of an even race, but having a market set at almost 7-1 the field is a rarity.
It's surprising Whyte's decision to handle Dragon Stride had not led to a greater level of early support for this galloper, who is prepared by Gary Ng Ting-keung.
Dragon Stride won a similar race on the all-weather surface earlier in the season and now that he's dropped back into the bottom grade, he looks extremely well placed to score again.
