Green Birdie to make most of drop in distance
The Champions Mile represents a litmus test for remade galloper Green Birdie, returning from the Derby distance of 2,000 metres to a trip trainer Caspar Fownes believes will be his optimum in future.
And for whatever tomorrow holds in store for the Australian-bred son of the Danehill stallion Catbird, Fownes predicts this is a horse yet to discover the peak of his powers.
'The Bird', as he fondly calls him, won the Derby Trial at 1,800 metres, beating the rising Helene Mascot with a superior turn of foot. It's that ability to accelerate that Fownes knows will be the gelding's passport to the big time. 'Even in his early days here, when he was still sprinting, it used to amaze me what he could do at the finish of his races,' Fownes said. 'He has a finishing burst that not many horses, anywhere, can match. But he hasn't been entirely straightforward, either.
'I believe, in six months' time, Green Birdie could become the best miler in Hong Kong. He's not there yet, but he's definitely going in the right direction and he's getting there, slowly piecing it all together. Drawing barrier two has been a big positive for him tomorrow because it will enable Brett [Prebble] to have him closer but without doing any work to have him there. If he just gets a big of luck, I think he can be in the finish - a first four chance for sure. But whatever he does, it's only going to be a preview of what he'll be capable of six months down the line.'
Green Birdie was originally raced by owner Roger Li Ka-chun in Australia, where he was trained by Brian Jenkins and his form included a second to champion sprinting filly Miss Andretti in the Schillaci Stakes over 1,000 metres at Caulfield, beaten a length. He ran a respectable seventh to Sacred Kingdom in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint (Group One) in December, coming from last to be beaten 61/2 lengths, and at his most recent start was third to Helene Mascot and Jackpot Delight in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby, where he didn't quite run out the 2,000 metres.
Olivier Doleuze has been Green Birdie's partner throughout the four-year-old triple crown campaign but he was never going to be separated from the crack miler Good Ba Ba, with the pair having won four successive races from just five starts for the season.
Prebble takes over for the first time tomorrow and is looking forward to the start of a positive association.
'He worked very nicely this week over half a mile, gave me a very good feel, and I'm looking forward to Sunday with him,' Prebble said. 'He looks like a horse on the way up, that's for sure.'
