Fleet Command and Floral Pegasus in right mood for Group One tasks

Fleet Command and Floral Pegasus have Group One targets coming up over the next two weekends and showed they are in the right groove by fighting out the finish of the first of two barrier trials at Sha Tin yesterday.

Floral Pegasus did his first serious piece of work since having some 'clean-up' arthroscopic surgery on his front joints in late November and moved stylishly under the guidance of Marco Chui Kwan-lai.

Trainer Tony Cruz is hoping to win another Group One with the chestnut before he heads off to stud at the end of the season and he will be a candidate for the HK$8 million Citi Stewards' Cup in two weeks.

Fleet Command, handled by Eddie Lai Wai-ming, is being primed for the four-year-old series that starts next Sunday with the HK$8 million Mercedes-Benz Classic Mile at Sha Tin.

Chui allowed Floral Pegasus to lead, albeit at a slow pace. In fact, he ran the first 800 metres of the 1,200m trial 2.7 seconds slower than the second division, won by Scoot Da Loot.

Naturally, with all those energy reserves largely intact, Floral Pegasus was able to run a much quicker final 400m than the 'Scooter', with the leader-to-winner split being 23.4 seconds. That reflects great credit on Fleet Command, as the former Victorian galloper came from last on the corner and some five lengths off Floral Pegasus to score by a short head.

Using basic racing mathematics, this means Fleet Command ran his final 400m in 22.6 seconds and that's a good gallop at the end of 1,200m in anyone's language.