It began the night as a rumble near her toes, but it was a booming Puccini aria by the finish as the fat lady did her stuff and John Moore at last called victory in the trainers' championship at Happy Valley.

John Size went to the Valley last night with a huge job ahead of him, trailing Moore by six but with a number of winning chances that might have left him with the improbable instead of the impossible on Sunday at Sha Tin.

But, as each Size runner passed without a victory, Moore's confidence grew then exploded as his best chance of the night, Happy Meteor (Joao Moreira), made no mistake in the sixth race and sealed the title.

"I think the fat lady has started to sing," grinned Moore. "Seven ahead with only a few races to go - I think I'm happy to claim victory."

It was the second title in five years for Moore - a shorter wait than the almost two decades between his previous two titles - and a seventh career championship.

It is all the more remarkable for the way Moore's business is structured to aggressively target the high grades and major races.

"As you know, my aim is to win the most prize money every season and I've managed to break my record for that again but, just in the past two or three months, we started to realise that the championship was a possibility, too," Moore said.

"My stable is so top heavy - probably a third of my horses are in Class One and Class Two, so that makes it hard to win titles. From that point of view, to get 68 wins isn't easy, but everything fell into place."

Moore said the surprise contributions this season had been the difference, with a speical mention for Verdane, who won five races after starting the term without a win to his name.

"Verdane must have had a visit from a saint the way he turned his career around," Moore said. "The turning point was last Sunday, getting four wins, because I know John Size had a very strong team going to the final day.

"Getting that breathing space meant I wasn't under pressure to match him this Sunday.

"It's been fantastic this last couple of weeks. The mood in the stable has been so upbeat and just working that extra bit harder to get the title. This is a great achievement by my staff as well."And Moore was especially elated to have sealed the win with Happy Meteor, raced by stable stalwart David Boehm.

"Probably, he would not normally have been running. I would have put him out after the last run, but he was going so well and I asked David if he would mind me giving him one more in case I needed him for the premiership and he was happy to do it," Moore said.

"Now the horse has his first win on the board and there's going to more ahead for him next season."Training honours on the night were shared by Francis Lui Kin-wai with a double and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai, who landed breakthrough wins from Better Announce and Flying Tourbillon.

"Better Announce had 25 starts before tonight and no wins and I give the credit to Gerald Mosse," Yiu said. "This is not an easy horse to get right, he has no dash, a bit like Enjoy the Game.

"Gerald got going early and pinched a break and it was enough. Flying Tourbillon had only nine races before, but he arrived early this season and has gradually been getting better. I'm happy to get one from him before the break."

Ben So Tik-hung collected a win for Almond Lee on Ocean Roar in the fifth race, but also a careless riding ban out of the first. He must serve a three-day suspension at the start of the new term on September 6.