The opening trial at Sha Tin yesterday offered something old, something new and something in between. And while grey power had its morning in the sun through eight-year-old Add The Fun, a smart young sprinter called Fair Navigator may offer the greater upside.
Add The Fun and Fair Navigator clashed over 1,050m on the all-weather track, with the Tony Millard-trained Fair Navigator leading at a moderate pace and Add The Fun collaring him in the closing strides after racing close to the pace throughout.
The bare facts were that Add The Fun (Zac Purton) landed the heat by a head from the late closing four-year-old Blessing (Howard Cheng Yue-tin), who gained second placing in a photo from Fair Navigator (Thomas Yeung Kai-tong).
The pace was steady at best, but Fair Navigator then made decent final splits, with the last 600m taking 35.5 seconds, the final 400m in 23.2 seconds and the ultimate 200m in 11.6 seconds.
The three-year-old, a graduate of the 2007 International Sale, cost owner Tung Chau-yu HK$4.5 million. He's already won a griffin trial over the straight 800m course on January 20, and this trial means he's ready to go to the races.
Add The Fun is a gelding by leading sire O'Reilly, the Waikato Stud-based stallion who was officially the champion sire of Hong Kong in 2008. O'Reilly was a multiple Group One winner and a royally bred one, too, being by 1986 Breeders' Cup Mile hero Last Tycoon from the Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper Stakes winning filly Courtza.
Add The Fun, a member of the Francis Lui Kin-wai team, has won six of his 49 starts and is a specialist over the 1,650m course at Happy Valley.
