Grassland Star a cut above rivals

SPEEDSTER Grassland Star showed there are more sprint races to be won with him when annihilating the second of two barrier trial fields on the main all-weather track at Sha Tin yesterday morning. The Irish import progressed well towards the backend of last season and has been by no means disgraced on three outings this time round but without getting his head in front.

When he ran in Ireland he was very much a specialist down the straight 1,000-metre course and that could well be the time to strike on him from a betting point of view should trainer Brian Kan Ping-chee manage to find him a race of that nature.

Time and time again the old racing maxim of horses for courses proves itself down the straight course. It is the same all over the world, a straight track in particular lends itself to specialists and hardly a race down the Sha Tin chute goes by without it being won by a horse previously successful over course and distance.

Conversely, there are those who are much better off running round a bend. Yesterday Grassland Star went straight to the front under Kan's new apprentice who is another 'Hong Kong' - Hong Kong Cheung. He looks a promising boy, is much younger than most of the other claimers and it will be interesting to see how he fares when thrown into races proper. He is said to have won races at Shenzhen, though that probably doesn't mean too much.

Anyway, Cheung, having his seventh trial ride, looked tidy and compact on Grassland Star and like all inexperienced apprentices in trials, he went a bit harder on his horse than a senior jockey would.

These young claimers love to ride them out in these heats, and why not, it's good practice for them. Yesterday Grassland Star had seven lengths to spare on the line over Peter Ng Bik-kuen's Health First, who in turn was three lengths clear of Tony P. H. Chan's enigmatic customer, American Star. The last-named has plenty of ability but not the moral fortitude to match.