Brett Prebble called Lord Sinclair the best dirt track horse he has ridden after the grey smashed a long-standing track record but trainer Sean Woods would prefer to keep the tightly wound gelding at home rather than chase desert riches in Dubai.
Coincidently, the previous 1,200m all-weather track record holder was trained by Woods for the same owners. Lord Sinclair shaved nearly three-tenths of a second off Watch What Happens' record set in 2007, running 1.07.46s and winning the Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup by 43/4 lengths.
Lord Sinclair's rising rating means he will soon run out of options on his preferred surface, and while Woods saw some fate in the feature win and called the coincidence "spooky", he seemed reluctant to go in search of overseas options as he did with Watch What Happens.
"It's up to the Jockey Club, if they put the races on I'd rather stay here," Woods said. "Let's see what the handicapper does and then see if there are any races for him. Today was his first race of the season. It's in the Jockey Club's hands, if they want these horses to stay in Hong Kong they'll put the races on. These Class One and Class Two races do hold a lot of turnover.
"He won off 90 and maybe he will go up eight or nine pounds, so there will still be racing for him but it will be hard to place him."
Watch What Happens' two-run campaign in Dubai was a disaster, and like that horse, Lord Sinclair has a couple of worrying but improving behavioural issues.
Before what would have been Lord Sinclair's first start for Woods, when still a colt, he became fractious and snuck under the starting gates, delaying his debut by months. Even on Sunday, Woods personally walked the horse from the parade ring to the course proper.
"He is still very tricky," Woods said, while Prebble, who rode the four-year-old to victory at the start of last season, was happy with the one-time problem child's improving attitude.
"He was bad before he was gelded, in fact he was dangerous, but since he was cut he has improved out of sight mentally and he is still getting better," he said.
Prebble's "best dirt horse" claim has a strong frame of reference, given the Australian rode Dynamic Blitz to victory, a horse rated by many to be the best ever on the circuit and a winner of the Al Shindagha Sprint at Meydan.
"I wouldn't be worried about the race programming here, there's a Group One sitting over there in Dubai for him, I wouldn't think twice about it," Prebble said. "He is easily the best horse I've ridden on the AWT here, and I've got no doubt he would be in those races in Dubai."
Prebble had a running dirt-track double, the brace coming after he broke through for a first season win at Happy Valley on Wednesday. He was clearly thrilled to get back in the groove after a late start and a lean four-month stint in Australia, letting out a raucous cheer when he crossed the line on Hypersonic.
"That's the happiest hour I've had on horseback for four months, which you could probably tell by my celebrations," he said.
