From hoping to reach the minimum benchmark of 15 wins each season to racking up feature wins with regularity - the resurgence of the Paul O'Sullivan stable continued unabated at Sha Tin yesterday as the popular Kiwi trainer produced a double including Griffin Trophy victor Line Seeker.
After a lean few seasons O'Sullivan has hit back by building up his numbers and along with the quantity, the quality is coming to the fore with Aerovelocity's Hong Kong Sprint success among the trainer's 12 winners so far this term.
Now Line Seeker's name can be added to the mix of progressive horses under O'Sullivan's care, although this prospect will be given the kid-glove treatment.
"If it wasn't for the terms of this race - age-restricted and worth HK$2 million - we probably wouldn't have run him in it," O'Sullivan said. "We would have targeted a Class Three over 1,200m instead."
Zac Purton was aboard both of O'Sullivan's winners as he tallied two more wins before a six-meeting careless riding ban, and it was at the jockey's insistence that the lightly framed gelding found himself stepping up to 1,400m for the first time at his third start, five weeks after the three-year-old broke through for a maiden win.
"Sprinting after a freshen-up might be his best option - he really got tired the last little bit," O'Sullivan said. "He will only race two or three more times this season, and he will come back and be a nice sprinter.
"Time is always a help to a horse like that but he is never going to be big and strong. He has a nice pedigree, but he is an unusual type. He is long and skinny-looking thing, and he lightens off badly after a race. If you saw him in the box the RSPCA would be knocking on my door, but he is very athletic."
Purton said the fact he had to use the well-supported 2.5 favourite early to get to the front from barrier eight added merit to the win, the gelding tiring late and just hanging on by a short head to the fast finishing Sky Hero.
"Taking on 1,400m so early in his career wasn't ideal and he has had that one run extra that Paul didn't really want him to have but was still able to get the job done, so that's a good sign," Purton said. "He got a little bit lost up the straight and waited, and he was tired - that was understandable because I had to roll on him early."
O'Sullivan's second winner came with stable transfer Racing Hero, the type of horse that would have left his yard in recent seasons, who arrived in good shape having just dropped into Class Three.
The high-pressure tempo set by Dicky Lui Cheuk-yin on Numero Uno meant the backmarker was favoured and the seven-year-old scored by two-and-three-quarter lengths after being backed from double figure odds to start 6.8.
O'Sullivan wasn't gloating after the win, admitting the stars aligned for a horse that seems to have a firmly established ratings ceiling.
"I've been around long enough to know I'm not a genius because he won today," O'Sullivan said. "Everything was right for him and the real test is when he goes into Class Two."
Purton backed that assessment: "I've ridden him a lot and he seems to be a totally different horse in Class Three and Class Two - he just doesn't seem to be able to measure up there."
