Silver Wraith looks home in shallow TT leg
Silver Wraith took a long time to settle into his new surroundings after arriving from England with good credentials, but he can again reward his connections for their patience by landing his second win for the season in the final leg of tomorrow night's Triple Trio at Happy Valley.
With the TT failing to go off last week due to the surprise win of Happy Heroes, the prize up for grabs is expected to swell to HK$9 million and Silver Wraith makes a solid banker after coming up with gate two for Anthony Delpech.
He won three and placed as many times from eight starts as a juvenile in England, but failed to make any impact in his first two seasons here.
He switched to Me Tsui Yu-sak's stable at the beginning of this season and started showing signs of improvement before finally landing his first victory three starts back over 1,400 metres at Sha Tin, when easily accounting for New Command and Cenamira.
The five-year-old took a rise in class at his next outing and turned in a commendable effort to finish a close-up fourth to Honest Treasure despite being posted wide the entire trip, before running with merit at his next start when attempting the Happy Valley mile for the first time.
Silver Wraith was slow from the gates and ended up settling four back on the fence, but closed off well in the final stages once working to the outside to be beaten by only two lengths by Master Dreamer.
He should be able to take a more prominent position this time providing he jumps on terms and, in a race lacking depth, he should prove too good under his light weight of 116 pounds.
Dare To Win looks to be the big improver with a drop in class and the prized inside alley, while others entitled to consideration are the in-form Qi's Pet and G-One Leading.
Last-start winners Nicku Nicku and Pillow King are both capable but will need plenty of luck from their outside gates.
In the opening leg, it's hard to go past the promising Hurray Hurray despite having to overcome the tricky draw of gate 10.
The three-year-old turned in a terrific debut performance behind Obviously considering he was slow away, showed signs of greenness and was checked in the straight. He then came up only marginally short last start alongside Singing Diners, who has since franked the form by maintaining his unbeaten record at Sha Tin on Saturday.
Brett Prebble is likely to bide his time early on the David Hall-trained gelding but he should still prove too progressive for his rivals in the final stages.
His biggest threats will come from Keen Flyer, Lollipop, Okeydokey and New Triumph, while Withallmyheart is capable of giving a sight if he has any luck from the outside barrier.
The middle pin looks tricky but the safest banker option looks to be New Command, despite the fact he was disappointing last start behind Safety First.
The Dennis Yip Chor-hong-trained gelding has been a good improver this season, but struggled in the final stages last start due to a fast speed in the early stages. He should get every chance from gate two and take a lot of catching under his light weight of 109 pounds after the claim for Terry Wong Chi-wai.
Other worthy inclusions are Liverbird, Dragon Stride, Vital Patrol and Amazing Choice, while Come Ho Choi will need plenty of luck to overcome the outside alley.
