King and Molly ready to kick start Eustace’s season
HONG Kong racing fans can look forward to the annual weekend fixture at Happy Valley on Sunday, when the city track hosts a 10-race programme starting at 4.45am.
It has been a recurring theme over the past few weeks that trainer David Eustace’s stable has been threatening to hit form, but as of yet it hasn’t happened.
The 34-year-old Englishman has only managed a solitary winner from the first 15 meetings of the current campaign, which is a poor return from someone who picked up 36 victories as a rookie trainer last season.
Eustace, however, can point to several near misses in the last month, and with the firepower that he has in his stable it can be only a matter of time before the winners start flowing.
The stable sends half-a-dozen raiders to the Valley and will surely be confident about KEEN MOLLY gaining compensation in the Zhuhai Handicap (9.50am) over the extended mile.
The son of Snitzel can probably be rated a winner without a penalty, after getting into all sorts of bother around the first bend and then veering away from the whip in the closing stages when beaten half-a-length by rival Viva Graciousness over the course and distance early last month.
Connections have been quick to make a move and get champion Zac Purton in the saddle, and with a recent encouraging trial and now a visor equipped for the first time, he should take plenty of beating.
If ever a galloper looked a guaranteed next start winner, it was the Eustace-trained COLOURFUL KING, who flew home but just failed to catch rival Youthful Spirits over the minimum five-furlong trip a couple of weeks back.
This potentially smart sprinter now steps up to six furlongs in the Guangzhou Handicap (9.15am), but does face a huge problem.
He has drawn the coffin box, and outside gate 12, which has an unfavourable record in six-furlong races.
Luckily there is plenty of early pace in the contest, with the likes of Youthful Spirits and Packing Bole looking set to have a ding-dong battle for the lead that should allow Colourful King to relax before he starts to make his move before the final bend.
With top jockey Andrea Atzeni doing the steering, the four-year-old can burst on to the scene before the final furlong, and then make his class tell in the closing stages.
POINTERS
Colourful King 9.15am Happy Valley
Keen Molly 9.50am Happy Valley