Meticulous trainer John Size won't be rushing any of his youngsters for the sake of a championship but, as usual, the master horseman still has a promising crop of unraced two-year-olds and three-year-olds coming through the ranks.
Size is clinging to a late season lead in the trainers' championship on 58 wins, with Caspar Fownes (55) breathing down his neck with five meetings left in the term.
Sergeant Titanium (Brett Prebble), Raging Bull (Karis Teetan) and Giddy Giddy (Joao Moreira) all had their second trials in the second heat of a soggy all-weather track session at Sha Tin on Friday.
Even though the trio are all eligible for the final griffin race of the season, over 1,200m on July 1, they are all still very green and it remains to be seen whether they will be revealed on that day.
Northern hemisphere three-year-old Sergeant Titanium is a solid lump of a horse with plenty to learn, but it is clear that he has some untapped natural ability and appears to at least have the physique to stand up to the rigours of racing here.
Sergeant Titanium's effort to sit on the speed and win the 1,200m heat was a massive improvement on his shell-shocked first trial on the grass three weeks earlier, where the son of Rock Of Gibraltor hardly knew what was happening and was well-beaten.
After Prebble got him to jump nicely on Friday, he then had the gelding eyeballing Raging Bull and they went to the line together, with Sergeant Titanium appearing under far less duress than his two-year-old stablemate.
Raging Bull, a New Zealand-bred juvenile by Savabeel, was no less lost in his first trial over 800m, wandering about and knocking up late. Friday's effort, where he was chased along late by Teetan, would have cleared some cobwebs and will have him a lot closer to match fitness.
Fellow two-year-old Giddy Giddy was better than his two stablemates three weeks ago, and he showed some nice poise to take a relaxed sit behind the speed, but felt the pinch when pulled out of the pocket and asked for effort.
The roan son of Exceed And Excel wouldn't go through with it when given a slight squeeze, and Moreira took it easy on him to the line.
Splitting the Size pair in second was Andreas Schutz-trained Mighty Wongchoy (Christian Reith) - another three-year-old by Rock Of Gibraltar who was having his third trial and has improved with each outing.
He, nor jockey Reith, might not have enjoyed it much, but sitting behind the speed and copping some sloppy kickback should toughen the youngster up.
Further back in the field was Francis Lui Kin-wai's unraced four-year-old Flying Nice, a nice type from the Hong Kong International Sale.
He was slowly away and had to be pushed to keep touch.
He was again failed, but he wasn't pressed by Zac Purton in the run home and there might be some talent there.
In the first heat of the morning Sean Woods' all-weather track course record holder Lord Sinclair did as expected as he cruised to win a 1,200m heat in 1.09.87s.
The temperamental grey's next target will be the Class Two feature on July 1.
