Derek Cruz won the opening Class Five race at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, but he also offered up a black booker in the shape of runner-up King Of Smarts.
In discussing the winner post-race, Cruz said Chans Delight had been knocking on the door with some worthwhile efforts since joining his yard and was rewarded for that with a narrow victory.
But it has been noticeable that there has been a little money for King Of Smarts at odds in his three prior runs for Cruz and he was again well backed on Wednesday, but this time justified the support by going close to winning.
With 12 starts and that placing the only thing to show for them, King Of Smarts is obviously no star, but he has shown glimpses of ability at times and has got down to a mark where most horses with any talent whatsoever should be able to win one.
And this race looks a good pointer to a future winner. The overall time was strong for the class on the night and the two Cruz runners came well clear of the rest, putting three lengths between themselves and Hurry Hurry Up.
Two races later, Caspar Fownes-trained Winaswewish again gave an indication that there are wins in his future, despite finishing eighth.
On debut, he made up ground behind a good tempo at the Valley in September, then missed away over 1,000m at Sha Tin when again making some ground in the latter stages behind London Master.
On Wednesday night, the race was dominated on the lead by Joyful The Great and three of the first four home were in the first three for most of the race so it was not a race conducive to a run-on victory, but Winaswewish pulled around three lengths off the leaders to catch the eye again.
A son of Thorn Park, but out of a mare by a more dour stallion in Casual Lies, his style of race clearly isn't going to be a short sprint and a step up perhaps to the Valley 1,650m at some stage should bring a better result.
