Douglas Whyte cited more relaxed morning workouts as the reason for Gorgeous Debut's recent turnaround after the free-striding three-year-old made it back-to-back wins with another dominant front-running display.
The exceptionally-bred son of Exceed And Excel, a HK$6.2 million sales topper at the Hong Kong International Sale last March, won his second start in October and seemed like he would progress through the grades. But the Danny Shum Chap-trained gelding then lost his way with a couple of disappointing runs towards the end of last year.
"It's just been a matter of calming him down in the mornings since then," Whyte said. "He can do 22-and-change without blinking an eye in trackwork, but it's about doing slower work with him and getting him to realise that it is not all about being one-dimensional, and sprint-and-go. He really has responded to the change. I've done a lot of work with him in the mornings, and by slowing him down, the penny has dropped."
"He is starting to take things seriously, he now puts things in perspective and does a professional job, whereas before he was a bit of a barrier rogue and his own worst enemy coming out of the gates. He also used to wander a bit - he has such a beautiful action, but he was getting a bit lost and wandering around. Now he is putting it all together."
Solid support for Benno Yung Tin-pang's race favourite My Little Friend saw him jump 2.1, while Gorgeous Debut drifted to start 3.1 second elect. But, from gate two, Whyte was able to use his mount's gate speed to easily find the fence from gate two and dictate, while Gerald Mosse was stuck wide on the well-backed top pick.
Gorgeous Debut has now won three from seven, and has led all the way in each of his victories, but the horse has improved his overall attitude to the point to where Whyte believes he could be ridden differently.
"Now I wouldn't be bothered if he had to box seat, or sit second - he could tear away from them," Whyte said.
Whyte was a late arrival at Sha Tin - his first ride wasn't until race eight - after partnering Akeed Mofeed to his fifth placing in the US$10 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday night in Dubai.
"I flew out at 3am in the morning from Dubai, arrived at 2.15pm in the afternoon and came straight here," he said. "I feel great actually, as strong as a bull - I think I am getting more competitive as I get older."
