Like a lot of the International Sale Griffins, Magical Beauty has been an exercise in patience for his connections but there are more wins in store for him after breaking his maiden status at Happy Valley.

Beaten in a pace that was too slow for him at his previous Sha Tin run, Magical Beauty was heavily bumped at the start on Wednesday night and settled down further back than many would have expected.

In fact, most Class Four horses would count their race finished after the kind of incident that happened at the start but what Magical Beauty did get was a great ride from Joao Moreira and the solid tempo that allowed him to show his best.

Magical Beauty looked the winner from the 400m mark and presented at the 250m like he would honour that promise, but the best part of his race was the last 200m, clearing right out to win by three lengths and leaving no doubt that he is well up to winning in Class Three next time.

He looks capable of seeing out further than the 1,650m he ran on Wednesday but no matter if he doesn’t – there are plenty of mile races around.

Later, Dennis Yip Chor-hong-trained Cour Valant did more than enough to suggest that he is near a win despite finishing unplaced.

Timely Arrived made it three wins from his last four starts when he was gifted a very soft lead and he just held out Good Luck Boy, who sat on his outside all the way and Diamond Master, who was pretty much third all the way.

In other words, a race where the idea of coming from last to win was fantasy, so the efforts of both Joy Luck Win and Cour Valant to finish off into fourth and fifth were excellent pointers.

What makes Cour Valant a more attractive black booker is where he currently sits in the handicap. He hasn’t won for two years, has only two wins from 32 starts, but he has performed with ratings in the high 70s and is now going well with a rating in the low 60s.