John Size-trained Hypersonic opened his new campaign with an eye-catching run on the dirt over a sprint course but can improve on that when he steps up to 1,650m on Wednesday night in the San Francisco Handicap at Sha Tin.
The gelding may only have finished sixth behind stablemate Access Years but Hypersonic(Nash Rawiller) ran somewhere around his best form in taking more than four lengths off the leaders from the 800m.
The son of Darci Brahma was one of the best performers on the dirt last season, winning three of six to take his overall record to five from eleven on the all-weather, and a finishing split of just over 22 seconds showed he has returned in good form.
While Hypersonic's brilliant turn of foot to scythe through the field in 1,200m races has brought four wins at that distance, the five-year-old has shown he handles the extended mile with a win and third in two attempts.
Wednesday night's above average Class Two has an interesting look about it from a pace point of view, with any number of horses which race in the first three or four but few who actually make a habit of taking the front. Matthew Chadwick's mount, Helene Super Star, who won the UAE Derby in Dubai on the lead and led in his only win here in June, over 1,800m, might have been thought an obvious front runner despite a wide draw until his two good runs lately sitting behind the speed.
www.racing.scmp.com