Danny Shum Chap-shing produced an amazing transformation at yesterday's Happy Valley barrier trials when New Idea showed massive improvement with the addition of a set of blinkers. Ridden by Howard Cheng Yue-tin, New Idea began brilliantly from the 1,200 metres start and was six lengths in front shortly after making the first corner. The New Zealand-bred three-year-old continued his Saturday morning stroll to be 10 lengths clear at the 400m and was never in danger in the run home, with the judge declaring the final margin to be 63/4 lengths. New Idea is a son of the Danzig horse Bertolini, best known as the sire of Sacred Kingdom's one-time conqueror Medic Power. At his first start, he ran fourth to Cash Money and Young Elite over 1,400m at Sha Tin on November 23 and kept on reasonably well to the line, beaten 23/4 lengths. His inexperience showed in the final 200m of the race, and under pressure his action appeared extravagant. New Idea did not go on after that respectable start and failed at Sha Tin on December 20, in the race won by Palais D'Or. He missed the start by one length, got back along the rails and never featured at all. In the light of that failure, Shum sensibly opted for the blinkers, and the vision-reducing equipment produced a much sharper and more focused gelding yesterday. Fever Pitch, a smart winner over 1,200m on international day 2007, worked home nicely under Olivier Doleuze to finish second. Fever Pitch now boasts a 78 rating and did well, considering he was 12 lengths off the leader at the 400m. Carry Good News, prepared by David Hall, had a quiet trial under the gentle handling of Eric Saint-Martin, while Ever Bright (Brett Prebble) kept on well to finish last of the four runners, but only a length from Fever Pitch. In the second batch, unraced four-year-old Lightning Success fell out of the stalls a conspicuous last of the four runners, but had too much finishing speed for his rivals. However, the trial may be of questionable form value as the winning time, 1:17.93, was around 3.4 seconds slower than the standard after factoring out the speed of the track on the day. The other factor that puts a question mark over the form was the positive performance of Decent Fellow, a humble Class Five dweller who is yet to win in 12 appearances. Lightning Success is trained by Andy Leung Ting-wah and was ridden by Brett Doyle, with that combination again to the forefront when Plot Ratio took the third batch over 1,000m. Plot Ratio raced about three lengths off the pace and always travelled nicely for Doyle. The pair split runners on the circle to be joint leaders at the 400m and the four-year-old son of Silent Witness's sire, El Moxie, kept on well over the final 200m. The last of four trials was won in relatively smart time by another Class Five animal, Blue Saint, who finished an inglorious last over 1,200m on the dirt surface last start. Blue Saint was handled by new apprentice Ben So Tik-hung and led throughout, failing to give the 10-pound claimer a moment's worry.
