It was another red letter day last Saturday for trainer Caspar Fownes as he claimed the feature Skol Cup with Blue Sky, but it was exciting youngster Let Me Handle It who shook the Sha Tin grandstand with a smashing 1,600m win and stamped himself as a rising star.
There was some uncertainty surrounding Let Me Handle It, who galloped in the morning before the races and was reported to the stewards as having a slightly increased pulse in his right front foot. He eventually trotted up in front of the vet and was given the green light to race.
Then at the start, Brett Doyle had to take evasive action when Let Me Handle It was checked soon after the break. He quickly recovered and settled second last and one off the fence before circling the final bend six wide. He caused Spinnaker to check badly when lugging in at the 300m, shot to the lead 200m out and won like there was no tomorrow, with the official margin reading five lengths on Lunar Reflections and King Of Scots. He stopped the clock at 1.34.87, with his final 400m in a blistering 22.2 seconds.
Let Me Handle It had already showcased his talent last season when accelerating strongly to win second up in June over the 1,400m in Class Four, before rounding out the term in Class Three with a closing fourth and then a neck second over the mile.
The four-year-old looks a horse on the way up and has a loaded black-type pedigree to support this claim. He is a son of classy stayer High Chaparral, a six-time Group One winner of the 2002 English and Irish Derby, injected with speed from the unraced Phone Trick mare Barija, who is a half-sister to Viva Zapata, a French Pattern winner at 1,400m. Let Me Handle It is a half-brother to Mercedario, a 12-time winner up to 2,200m and Listed placed in Western Australia.
With his size and scope, he has all the makings of something special and can make some noises in this season's four-year-old classics.
David Ferraris' pair of Affluence Of Rain and Fast Intentions also made nice impressions.