3 minute read
John Moore's galaxy of stars bound for big races hogged the limelight at Sha Tin on Tuesday morning, but the trial of the morning might have belonged to Michael Chang's Derby hopeful Tableaux.
Tableaux matched motors with Moore's reigning Champion Horse of the Year, Stewards' Cup-bound Military Attack, in the final stages of a 1,600m turf trial and looks to have progressed nicely since a local debut over a mile on International Day.
Even though Tableaux's form indicates he will appreciate the Derby distance of 2,000m, Tuesday's sharp effort shows he could be a threat against Moore's big four of Able Friend, Designs On Rome, Flagship Shine and Secret Sham in the Classic Mile next Sunday as well.
Olivier Doleuze got Tableaux to jump cleanly, after he was a touch scratchy on debut, and he relaxed beautifully near the tail and worked around the field - making his run with Military Attack.
There are 41 ratings points between the pair, but there was only a neck margin on the line with neither horse overly taxed.
Back in fourth was another Classic Mile fancy, John Size-trained Dr Good Habit (Douglas Whyte). He is rated 86 but is yet to race this term, and is yet to get out of his bad habit of overracing early.
Again, the son of Tale of the Cat bounced out of the gate with his mouth wide open and hard against the bit, but Whyte managed to wrangle him into a position just behind the speed and he finished off okay.