When Dazzling Fit knuckled down to fight out a close finish with Beauty Bolt, trainer David Eustace’s assistant Cash Lee Tsz-wai already felt the result was tilting their way.
Lee has seen enough from the four-year-old in trackwork to know that if a race comes down to competitive instinct, Dazzling Fit will simply will himself to be in front on the line. Dazzling Fit only prevailed by a short head in a blanket three-way finish and will still be in Class 3 when re-handicapped today, but the Classic Mile – and maybe more – sits firmly on the horizon for a horse who has won three from seven starts.
Lee said the gelding’s toughness is not something that appears only on race day – the trait shows up every morning at Sha Tin. “He’s very competitive,” Lee said. “In work when you ask him he always wants to chase. If it’s close, he wants to be in front.”
That edge, Lee believes, is what makes Dazzling Fit more than just a handy Class 3 type. Sunday’s 1,600-meter win was another rung on a steady ladder but also the kind of toughness that hints at Classic-series temperament. “You could see the last 50 meters he really tried,” Lee said. “He stretched his neck out.”
The win puts Dazzling Fit in the conversation for the Hong Kong Classic Mile on Feb. 1, the first leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, even if his place is not yet locked in. His rating is likely to settle in the mid-70s, which might leave a horse on the borderline for selection, even in what seems a thin year. Dazzling Fit now has momentum, but he still needs to keep pushing forward to be safely inside the cutoff.
The next six weeks will decide the Classic Mile picture. A New Year’s Day 1,400-meter Class 3 is shaping as an important gauge for four-year-olds hovering around the same mark, while a 1,600m Class 3 restricted to the age group on January. 11 offers a final chance for late-rising types to force their way into the field.
Jockey James McDonald was impressed by the way Dazzling Fit handled a steadily run race and still found the necessary punch when the sprint went on. He said the tempo actually helped the gelding’s task, but the manner of the fight was what stood out. “They only really went fast for the last part, so that helped him today,” McDonald said. “But he’s a lovely progressive horse. When he got into a fight, his quality showed and he fought hard all the way through to the line.”
McDonald also suggested Sunday’s 1,600m assignment may not be the gelding’s ceiling. “He feels like a 2,000m horse, a horse that can get further,” he said. “Races here can get very slow, so you have to make a long run. He did that today. He’s very tough.”
The meeting itself was staged behind closed doors and without public attendance, creating a subdued backdrop that kept the focus on the racing.
In other news, trainer Chris So Wai-yin said his honest miler Hong Lok Golf has earned a shot at the top milers in January’s G1 Stewards’ Cup following another wholehearted display in the 1,600m Class 2.
“He deserves a chance and honestly there aren’t many options when a horse has won his way through the grades like that,” So said.
Hong Lok Golf has now won seven from 10 starts and his rating will pass triple figures after the win, which added to “Class 2 King” Harry Bentley’s impressive record in the grade this season. Five of Bentley’s 10 wins this season have been in Class 2.
