All's Well is up for the job, says Dye

Shum's sprinter is poised to exact revenge on Armada

Shane Dye believes Armada's July 2 victory over All's Well is far from conclusive and is confident the emerging sprinter can exact revenge when the rising stars clash for the second time at Sha Tin on Sunday.

All's Well and Armada are two of the most promising horses in Hong Kong and it will be a major surprise if they do not boast a Group One win before the season is out. So their second clash in the HSBC Premier Bowl will be not only the highlight of the meeting, but of the season to date.

'They are a couple of promising horses, that's for sure,' Dye said. 'I know Armada defeated All's Well the only time they met, but I wouldn't take any notice of that.

'All's Well had a setback going into that race, so he was going a mile first-up for more than three months. I thought he had Armada beaten 100 metres out, but the other horse was just a bit fitter and stronger on the day.

'But it was a great run from All's Well and that told me he can definitely beat Armada,' said Dye, who has always been a firm believer in the quality of All's Well, a New Zealand-bred owned by his friend, Darin Leung Wai-yuen.

'He's a Group One horse, for sure,' the jockey said. 'On Sunday it looks like there will be a lot of speed on, with horses like Natural Blitz and Our Jet engaged. We have drawn barrier nine so I'll try to drop him back to around midfield, with cover. He doesn't have the early speed to be mixing it with those horses, but he'll be finishing very strongly.'

All's Well has a terrific scoreline of six wins, five seconds and a third from just 12 starts, never finishing out of the first three. And his record could easily have been better.

He underlined his class at his very first start, when a half-length second in the Juvenile Championship, beaten by the more experienced Good Ba Ba. The gelding received a bad check on the first corner that day and over-reacted due to his inexperience - it was a race he should have won.

And then last start, he seemed to run away from Brett Prebble's whip when beaten a neck by Sunny Sing in the Sha Tin Sprint Trophy over 1,000m.

Trainer Danny Shum Chap-shing, who prepared a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, sent All's Well down the straight riverside turf track over 800m yesterday.

'He worked OK, just the same as he normally does,' Dye said. 'I'm very happy with him and really looking forward to Sunday's race.'

Apart from Armada, Dye has a healthy respect for the John Moore-trained Sunny Sing.

'Sunny Sing is already a Group One winner. He can sprint but he can stay at least a mile, and he has a very good turn of foot,' Dye said.

'But the best thing about him is his character - he's a real racehorse and tries very hard every time he competes. He's a horse I have a lot of respect for.'

Sunny Sing, who finished sixth in the Armada-All's Well encounter, will again be ridden by Eric Saint-Martin.