A 1000-metre barrier trial at Sha Tin on Tuesday featured a handful of Hong Kong's current stars, with 2014 G1 Al Quoz Sprint winner Amber Sky (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) winning by 11 1/4 lengths from champion miler Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal); G1 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup winner Werther (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}); G1 Stewards' Cup victor Helene Paragon (Fr) (Polan {Fr}); four-time Group 1 winner Designs On Rome (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}); and last year's Britannia H. winner Limitless (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).
John Moore is the trainer of all the triallers bar the winner and the last-placed, and he said, “Amber Sky went off in front and my lot just grouped together, very much like a European gallop, like you'd see at Newmarket or Chantilly. They bunched up and got to the line really strongly, so I'm happy about that–all four trialled particularly well.”
Able Friend and Helene Paragon are set to rematch in the G1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup on Feb. 26 after running one-three in the Stewards' Cup on Jan. 30, and Moore said of the former, “Able Friend would have won last time if he'd had clear running. He's just too good for them but things didn't work out in the run. Joao [Moreira] was noticeably happy about Able Friend [in the trial] and the way he pulled up strongly there.”
“Helene Paragon isn't going anywhere now,” Moore added. “We'd looked at going to Dubai for the turf race over 1800 metres [the G1 Dubai Duty Free] but [owner] Mr. Wu wants to focus on the big races here in Hong Kong this season with the target being the Champions Mile.”
Werther and Designs On Rome will both target the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup in 12 days' time.
“Sam [Clipperton] mentioned that Werther, at the end of it, he had trouble pulling him up–the horse wanted to get on with it,” Moore said.
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