After Golden Harvest spectacularly shed his tag as a "Happy Valley horse" in the HKSAR Chief Executive's Cup, trainer Tony Millard is now targeting what he believes could be a below-average Hong Kong Sprint with the lightly raced six-year-old.
Having notched all four of his wins at the smaller track to rise to a rating of 104, Millard believes Golden Harvest had been too easily pigeonholed as a course specialist, and proved it on Sunday at Sha Tin.
"He is a very nice horse. People can be a little insulated in their thinking, good horses can run anywhere," Millard said, pointing to the horse's consecutive thirds in Group Threes at Sha Tin late last season.
The 1,200m sprint at the season opener has provided a pointer to future big race success in the past, with Lucky Nine, Able Prince and The Duke all winning the event on their way to the big time, and with the announcement that top-ranked Australian sprinter Lankan Rupee will not head north after the Melbourne spring, Millard feels the traditionally strong Hong Kong Sprint could be thinner than usual.
"With some luck we can squeeze him into that international sprint in December, because it does look very weak in the 1,200m category - there's a lot of older horses there that have done their job and there's not a hell of a lot around. The way he won here today, and with a little more improvement, then he will have a chance in that company."
Under a superb ride from Joao Moreira - who, from barrier 11, utilised the gelding's gate speed to find a perfect one-off spot just worse than midfield - Golden Harvest stormed home to score from Smart Volatility and Peniaphobia, with even money favourite Divine Ten capitulating to finish second last and later reported to have suffered a heart irregularity.
Moreira believed Golden Harvest would have to improve again to be competitive against the best sprinters, including one of the Brazilian's regular rides, Sterling City, with whom he hoped a clash wasn't imminent.
"I hope I don't have to choose between them, because they are obviously both very good horses," Moreira said. "Sterling City is still a while from being ready so hopefully it isn't a decision I will have to make for a while."
On the question of which track Golden Harvest is better placed, Moreira went as far as to say that the muscular type might be even better suited at Sha Tin.
"He surprised me a bit today, as I admit that I was one that thought he was a better horse over at Happy Valley," Moreira said. "Today I was happy to be proved wrong and he showed he could handle the bigger track."
"After today, I now think maybe this track suits him even better because of the way he races. He sits in behind and the long straight allows him to chase."
