Other trainers might have started the season quicker but John Size has been chipping away nicely and his Class Five maiden Super Silks put the writing on the wall with a strong return on Wednesday night.

Super Silks took some racing to get going as a three-year-old last season but his last two starts on the all-weather and then at Happy Valley were big improvements.

His strong finish into second behind Crimson Heart at the midweek dirt meeting suggested he has come back right where he left off despite not having raced for four months.

By Commands, Super Silks is out of a mare by Hong Kong Vase winner Daliapour, which seems to be where his stamina comes from as the mile seems about as short as he wants it.

He has shown his best in two dirt runs but that Valley run was certainly worthwhile too so he has some options. He stays in the cellar grade with a lift of just one point for this run and he should be tough to beat in Class Five next time and then at the bottom of Class Four as well.

In the night’s trophy race, a bunched finish suggested on first look that this might not be a great form race but it might just have been a collection of well-matched but sound performances rather than the group of poor runs it usually indicates.

There were a number of good efforts in it, including the beaten favourite Tianhuang, who stays under notice, but the first starter A Beautiful did enough to say he won’t be long breaking through.

The Chris So Wai-yin-trained gelding had been a highly impressive maiden winner by seven lengths in Australia and he had not been fully tested in the lead-up to Wednesday’s race even though he had been given three trials.

Brett Prebble had done much of the work on the gelding but elected to ride Fight Hero, ultimately a scratching, and that suggested he might not be wound right up. Still, A Beautiful showed good speed and application to race outside the winner then finish only two lengths away from a wide draw.