Eden Garden deserves a second glance

His form at the trials have been above average. But for all of that, EDEN GARDEN has so far failed to bring that "form" to the races. As such, he has gone winless for 15 starts.

However, don't be too quick in consigning him to the waste heap. Eden Garden could be a late bloomer and he certainly deserves another chance.

Actually if you were watching Tuesday's trials and didn't know his "record", you would have pencilled him in as a horse to follow.

You see, Eden Garden looked real sharp when winning the last trial of the morning.

Out of the chute well, his rider WS Chan settled him among the backmarkers. Indeed, he had a wall of horses in front of him when they cleared the 600m and headed for the top of the stretch.

At that stage of proceedings, Dayflirt and Soonbaby were trading blows up front and had opened up a two-length lead.

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What was Eden Garden doing? He was sixth in the nine-horse trial and was only then looking for an opening from which to launch an attack.

It came 250m out and Chan pointed him to it. Helped along by a few taps of the persuader, Eden Garden swooped to be on the tails of the frontrunners.

Soon, he was at their withers and, with 150m to go, he had not only stolen the lead. He had claimed the trial in no uncertain terms.

Pulling clear, he went to the line a length in front of Soonbaby.

By Thorn Park, it was Eden Garden's second trial this year. In that first one in early January, he lost out to Smiddy Byrne in a photofinish after being in close touch with the lead and making it a two-horse affair from the top of the straight.

Now into his third season of racing - he had three starts in 2015 and eight in 2016 - the chestnut deserves to be among the winners and that could become a reality soon.

Also on Tuesday, we saw HOT GOLD come from third when they straightened to win.

The eight-year-old by Iffraaj had cleared the chute on even terms but soon settled off the pace, allowing Secret Mission and Rafale to lead the way.

Hot Gold, ridden by Michael Rodd, was still behind the leaders when they straightened but he soon began to make up ground and by he time they were 250m from home, he had hit the front.

Secret Mission refused to give up the fight but Hot Gold had the momentum and managed to prevail by a shorthead. On that count, you had to be impressed with his effort.