Lord Sinclair didn't do anything new but his trial on his favoured all-weather track on Friday was impressive nonetheless and the Sean Woods-trained grey will be hard to hold out next month when he returns to the surface.
The five-year-old took his time to settle into his new surrounds after winning two from three in France, and a gelding operation has ironed out some major temperamental issues.
After breaking through at start number eight, Lord Sinclair quickly made it two straight when he resumed with a win in track record time on the dirt, running an astonishing 1.07.46s for the 1,200m.
Lord Sinclair was first out on to the track with the lead pony before standing well, jumping cleanly and producing yet another eye-catching display.
Raceday jockey Brett Prebble had him in front the whole way over 1,200m and he ran solid time without any urgings, clocking 1.10.50s and winning by 3-1/4 lengths.
Lord Sinclair has jumped 23 points in two starts courtesy of two four-length plus victories and is getting into the sort of ratings territory where race scheduling can become a problem for dirt specialists. Now on 103, the next option is a 105-80 extended band Class Two Handicap on February 9 - if he can win there Woods may be forced to explore overseas options.
After his last-start win, Woods was clear about his preferred option for Lord Sinclair.
"It's up to the Jockey Club, if they put the races on I'd rather stay here," Woods said at the time. "It's in the Jockey Club's hands, if they want these horses to stay in Hong Kong they'll put the races on."
Another Woods dirt specialist was second in the heat, Free Judgement running on well for Howard Cheng Yue-tin, who himself is making a steady return from injury at the trials and hopes to resume race riding soon.
In behind were a trio of Stewards' Cup entrants; Blazing Speed (Matthew Chadwick), Real Specialist (Tye Angland) and Glorious Days (Douglas Whyte) all given no-fuss hit outs nine days away from the Group One.
Interest in the second heat centred around Tony Cruz-trained Australian import Photon Willie (Chadwick), who is likely to head into tomorrow week's Group One Classic Mile first up after minimal work on the track.
The 85-rated son of High Chaparral was a winner of four from 10 for leading Sydney handler Chris Waller, never making it into Group company and sometimes showing an aversion to the stick - veering dramatically off course when hit.
Photon Willie had only been in work a month for Cruz so it wasn't surprising to see him run out of condition late, after showing good speed early in the heat.
Recent stable transfer Sea Warrior (Zac Purton) looked best in the trial, his rating has dropped to 65 and the four-year-old has been moved from Michael Chang Chun-wai to Chris So Wai-yin after a fifth at Happy Valley in early December.
In the final trial of the morning Dennis Yip Chor-hong's northern hemisphere four-year-old Lightning And Gold (Andreas Suborics) showed he could be getting closer to a race start with a tidy effort to win his fourth trial.
Behind him another ex-Waller galloper, Happy Bao Bei (Purton) - formerly known as Oompa Loompa - moved well to the line, finishing fourth.
