"Pressure's for tyres," plunge sets Crawford's pulse racing as Mr Incredible takes another step

It wasn't only the heat and humidity making Brett Crawford wipe the sweat from his brow before Mr Incredible's race on Saturday at Sha Tin – it was the price on the infield big screen plummeting deep into odds-on territory.

A remarkable sum had been hammered into the win pool late, and the first-season trainer felt every cent of it. "I was sweating a bit," he admitted. "I was feeling it when he jumped at 1.6."

Just as well he didn't know the half of it. Crawford thought his horse had jumped at 1.6 – short enough to set the pulse going. In fact, a wave of massive late bets had carved the price all the way into 1.2 by the off. Given he was already feeling the heat, the blissful ignorance was probably for the best.

"I know how David Hayes must feel," Crawford said with a grin, invoking the man whose heart rate is said to spike whenever Ka Ying Rising goes around as a 1.05 chance in a Group 1.

A champion trainer back home in South Africa, Crawford has a saying for the kind of nerves that come with a hot favorite. "Pressure's for tyres," he likes to say. The weight of money and public expectation in Hong Kong, though, is a different beast.

The punters behind those massive wager might have been having heart palpitations of their own at the 250-meter mark, when Mr Incredible hadn't yet put the race away. Then he changed gears. "At one point he was in a fight, which is good to see, because then he knuckled down," Crawford said. "When asked to stretch, he dug down deep and went away from it. We can't ask for more."

"There's not many three-year-olds that win in Class 3 like that," Crawford said. "He's got a big action, great attitude – which I think is 90 percent of his success. He's a really relaxed horse."

Crawford reckons the handicapper will hand him "six or seven points" after winning off a rating of 70. That may be optimistic, but even if he was disappointed with a rise closer to ten, it would at least tuck the horse safely into the field for the first leg of next season’s Four-year-old Classic Series – the 2027 Classic Mile. That's still more than six months away, yet front of mind for a prospect with the right mix of physical and mental attributes. "He'll have a nice break now, put him away, have a nice holiday," Crawford said, "and obviously get him ready for the new season."

Asked to grade his debut campaign, Crawford initially settled on "seven out of ten." Then came the following race – and Sovereign Fund.

Crawford's first season has been defined by wins in Class 5 but Sovereign Fund was another Class 3, and a competitive one at that. Fghting off his rivals under Karis Teetan, who also rode Mr Incredible to bring up a closing double. By the time Crawford returned to the press room, the grade had been revised upward.

"Maybe make that eight out of ten," he said, beaming.

That made it 25 winners for a debut campaign – 15 of them ridden by Teetan, whose chemistry with the stable has been one of its defining features. Nowhere is that partnership more undeniable than aboard Sovereign Fund: Teetan has won on the gelding all four times it has saluted, and added another four placings for good measure. "He obviously likes the Mauritian," Crawford said.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓