SICHUAN SUCCESS (128 lb) burst onto the Hong Kong racing scene with an emphatic 3.25L victory late last year on Good-to-Yielding ground. He showed great speed to zip to the front from gate 14, sitting outside the lead. He then kicked away and won with perhaps a bit in hand.
This first win was certainly impressive, and we can make a direct comparison to a very competitive Class 3 sprint later in the day. London Chinatown beat Final Answer cozily by a neck with Praising, Winning Edge, and Farm Legend matching engines in the battle for 3rd place. Sichuan Success ran the first 800m of his race in 46.81s, and closed off in 23.55. Final Answer, a Class 2 horse, carried a similar weight to reel off similar splits of 46.84 and 23.32. Ignoring the fact that the track may have been a bit cut up in between and noting the work he did from the wide gate, Sichuan Success rates around 1L behind Final Answer. But he was first up and only pushed out to the line.
On his next start, which was also on Good-to-Yielding ground and up in Class 3, Sichuan Success (120 lb) sat two back the fence and put in a sustained run to win by 0.75L. Brett Prebble's PRAISING was three-wide the trip and came to win at the 200m mark, but couldn't quite close the deal. But the John Size charge looked vulnerable that day.
His splits were 46.99 and 23.17, with Douglas Whyte giving him a few slaps down the shoulder. He looked fully extended. The winner of the day's Class 2 sprint, El Morro, ran 46.80 and 22.95, while the runner-up Shining Victory ran 46.88 and 22.90. Sichuan Success would clearly need to improve to fulfill the public's high opinion of him; assuming the track rode similarly, he'd need to find over 2 or 3L to be a chance in a Class 2 race. And Praising might have beat him with a cushier run...
He disappointed in his subsequent start, and I don't think he necessarily ran that much below form. The pace of the race was slower than he'd ever encountered before (he ran 47.48 for the first 800m), and I think he just got done for a turn of foot. Perhaps the Good ground that day wasn't ideal, but I doubt it.
I think it's great that Romantic City is in today's race, because that's what Sichuan Success needs on his form last year. But he definitely needs to improve lengths to beat that legitimate Class 2 horse.
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