Infinity Hercules looks promising
Joseph Leck’s newbie stands out from six Sungai Besi trial victors
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The Joseph Leck-trained Infinity Hercules (Lim Shug Uai) strolling in by a massive margin of nine and a half lengths in barrier trial No. 4 at Sungai Besi on May 5. It was a major improvement from his first trial on April 21 when he beat only one home.
PHOTO: SELANGOR TURF CLUB
Brian Miller
Six different yards came out on top from as many trials at Sungai Besi on the morning of May 5.
From the six horses who got up, three have yet to make their Malaysian debuts, and may be the ones worth having a wager on when they make their debuts.
Here is how it panned out on a track rated as “good to yielding”.
Choice Is Mine took the opener, King Of The Finish won the third sprint while Infinity Hercules claimed the fourth hit-out.
Of the trio of winning newbies, Infinity Hercules stood out. The son of Hanseatic did not just claim the fourth trial, but he also owned it – every single blade of grass.
Still a three-year-old residing in Joseph Leck’s yard, Infinity Hercules romped home a 9 1/2-length winner.
Even when eased up by jockey Lim Shung Uai over the concluding stages, he clocked a decent time of 1min 01.38sec.
It was his second trial at Sungai Besi. Leck had sent him out on April 21 and, on that day, he managed to beat just one home.
After arriving from Australia almost a year ago, it would be a good time for him to start paying for his keep – and it could come as early as May 10 in a Restricted Maiden (1,200m).
On what the Infinity Stable-owned galloper showed racegoers at the trials, where he took the lead on settling and never gave it back, he should toss in a good showing on debut.
Choice Is Mine, who took the opener, is another one for your notebook.
From Lawson Moy’s barn, the son of Turn Me Loose was never seriously threatened either.
Ridden by apprentice jockey Fikri Ismail, he took the lead at the top of the straight and, under a strong ride, he went on to beat Banker’s Lady (Johari Kamaruddin) by a length.
Until being flown out to Malaysia on Nov 11, Choice Is Mine had one start for one win in a 1,200m race for three-year-old maidens at Pukekura in New Zealand, where he was known as Hana Man.
Now a four-year-old and with a new name, Choice Is Mine looks ready to take off from where he left off.
As for King Of The Finish, he made it a Winson Cheng Han Yong queue-up when he beat stablemate Royal Flush in the third trial.
A three-year-old Australian-bred by Dirty Work, King Of The Finish clocked a nice time of 1min 01.29sec for the 1,000m.
Ridden by Haikal Hanif, he led from barrier to box and won with petrol still in the tank.
Runner-up Royal Flush is an eight-year-old mare who was having a vet test after pulling up lame at her last start on April 11. She passed the test.
Also from the beaten brigade, but deserving of mention, is Eruption.
One of trainer Simon Dunderdale’s trio for the Chairman’s Trophy – the other two being Antipodean and Thunderous – Eruption was given an easy time in his trial.
Right from the get-go, jockey Kaidan Brewer allowed his mount to bowl along in fourth spot.
Into the home stretch and travelling widest of the lot, he hit the front momentarily but was not ridden out. He was soon passed by Choice Is Mine and Banker’s Lady to take third spot.
A seven-time winner, he does seem to possess the credentials needed to scare the likes of stablemate Antipodean and, perhaps, Banker’s Two Six, who also worked well on the morning of May 5.
