Sir Isaac looks ready to set things right
YESTERDAY'S HONG KONG (HAPPY VALLEY) RESULTS Kranji trackwork
Four times they sent him out as race favourite. Four times SIR ISAAC got beaten. If he had two legs, they might have petitioned to have him stripped of his knighthood.
That said, it wasn't from lack of trying - to win, that is.
Four times, Sir Isaac gave his all - only to be denied victory. In two of those races, prints of the race finish had to be called for to decide who would trot into the winners' circle.
Well, Sir Isaac and his team have doubled their efforts to get him into that hallowed enclosure and yesterday we saw a determined youngster put in a winning gallop on the training track.
Ridden by Michael Rodd, who partnered him in one of those agonisingly close finishes, Sir Isaac romped over the 600m in 39sec.
The three-year-old from trainer Cliff Brown's yard will hope to break his duck in Race 2 on Sunday. It's a race which brings together a fleet of flighty youngster all brimming with talent and eager to shed their maiden status.
With saddlecloth No. 1 - earned by his rating of 51 - he will lead them through the tunnel and onto the racetrack.
If all goes well, we should see him being led in for that coveted winning photo. And the applause will say he deserves it.
Another one who drew attention yesterday was JELLY BEAN.
She had Matthew Kellady in the saddle when she reeled off 600m in 37.4sec.
Owned by staunch racing supporters, Auric Stable, and prepared for the races by bang-in-form trainer Shane Baertschiger, Jelly Bean has been ultra-consistent and her record shows she has been outside the top four just once in 14 race starts.
She gets into Race 11 on Sunday on the back of a fighting win over Lim's Casino on Nov 27 and with her yard churning out winners on a conveyor belt, this could be her fourth victory.
The Kranji Stakes C sprint over the flying 1,000m in Race 9 could prove a cracker with several speed machines set to do battle.
Three of them strutted their stuff on the training track yesterday and all impressed.
SUN PIONEER, ridden by champion apprentice CC Wong, cantered one round before running the 600m in 37.1sec.
CONSTANT JUSTICE had Frenchman Gerard Mosse on the reins when running the distance in 39.5sec after a round at a strong canter and trainer Mark Walker's DISTINCTIVE DARCY - gunning for his fifth win off the reel - stopped the clocks at 36.8sec.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now