Not a vintage day on Saturday for the quiet, out of view horse to follow, but certainly a day when a couple of rising stars confirmed their promise and Lucky Bubbles was one with the wow factor.
The Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained four-year-old had looked quiet a decent prospect when he made it into the black bookers following his debut run coming down the wrong part of the Sha Tin straight course.
He managed to win one two starts later and, at that stage, still looked a nice prospect who would be winning races in Class Two, but nothing we saw of Lucky Bubbles last season bore any resemblance to the horse who returned on Saturday.
He simply jogged along outside a pretty handy horse in Lucky Year then ran away from him on auto pilot, with Brett Prebble doing a very passable statue impression.
In doing so, Lucky Bubbles ran a strong time and could certainly have improved on it if he had been pressed. This wasn't the win of a future Class Two horse, this was the win of something better than that.
The progeny of Sebring have got out to middle distances and beyond successfully in Australia - Criterion won a Derby at Randwick over 2,400m - but Lui threw cold water over the idea that Lucky Bubbles could be a Derby type as he has a sprinter's build.
Wherever he goes, Lucky Bubbles looked a serious racehorse on the weekend and black type is definitely on the agenda.
Horses to follow in the lesser grades came out of the Class Four 1,400m won by Unbeatable Guts.
Thors Bolt was very unlucky in the straight and Ah Bo battled bravely under a wide barrier disadvantage for the second run in a row, but the black booker we've chosen is the first starter Hastily Feet.
From gate 14, he had to work hard to cross and lead the race and didn't have an easy time of things for a debutant. His trials in New Zealand and here suggest that the way to ride the son of Darci Brahma will be more quietly and he may even want a little further to show his best, but he is going to win races.
