Absolute Champion worked strongly on the bridle and quickly put his rivals away once Brett Prebble shook him up inside the 400m.

He did not race away, in the style one might expect of a horse that was rated the world champion sprinter in 2006, but stayed on effectively to score by 1 3/4 lengths from the late closing Fellowship, handled by Douglas Whyte.

Nightlign, New Zealand's champion juvenile for 2006-07 and a first-up winner in Class One at his Hong Kong debut for the stable of Almond Lee Yee-tat, was a half length away third.

Trainer David Hall said Absolute Champion "did what was required", in which the official time was 58.6 seconds, the final 400m in 22.6 seconds.

"He really just went through the motions, he looked pretty good to me and did what was required," Hall said. "I guess he floated a bit when he got to the front, which he can do, and that can make him look a little less impressive."

Hall said the rain that fell on Monday night and yesterday morning at Sha Tin had provided the 2006 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint hero with "an ideal surface" he undoubtedly enjoyed.

But, as always, Hall will be keeping a vigilant eye on the Marauding gelding's troublesome feet.

"His good foot continues to be fine, but we have had some concerns with the other foot," Hall said. "This is nothing new, though. We'll continue to keep an eye on it and wait to see he is trotting out well before he goes to Singapore on the weekend. Naturally, we want to be sure he is 100 per cent before going away to a big international race like this.

"But it was a good sign that he could trial as well as he did this morning."

Absolute Champion is a clean-winded animal and this trial will constitute his major piece of work before the S$1 million KrisFlyer Sprint over 1,200m at Kranji.

"That was the other important thing to learn from the trial, that his fitness is spot on," Hall said.

Fellowship, a member of the Paul O'Sullivan team, is a horse to follow on the strength of this trial. He was slowly away but finished off strongly and was not pushed out by Whyte in the concluding stages.

Nightlign again showed his quality with a nice trial for third under Alex Lai Hoi-wing.

O'Sullivan and Whyte also combined to impressively win the griffin trial over 800m with two-year-old National Glory, a son of Australia's reigning champion sire Flying Spur.

National Glory already has a place in local racing history, being the record-priced graduate of the International Sale in December, at HK$7.2 million.

He began brilliantly from barrier nine and went straight to the outside fence, giving Whyte an armchair ride and coasting up to win the trial, narrowly but impressively, from the stablemate Victory Speedy (Mark du Plessis) in the sharp time of 46.1 seconds for the 800m.