Survey's race a great Derby pointer(9 Jan)

MARK YOUR CARD by MURRAY BELL

The performance of Derby-bound Survey Survey to win the final event at Sha Tin on Sunday takes on a new significance when one compares it with the result of the corresponding race 12 months ago.

The programming in 2006 was slightly different, with the Class Two race over 1,400 metres having been decided on New Year's Day rather than the first weekend in the new year. But it was a result that provided winners of two of three legs of the triple crown for four-year-olds, with Hello Pretty winning by three-quarters of a length and Viva Pataca charging home late for third.

Hello Pretty went on to land the Derby Trial over 1,800m, while Viva Pataca emerged as the best young stayer with a sparkling victory in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby.

Survey Survey, a son of deceased Mr Prospector stallion Chester House, is looking very much a Derby candidate after a sparkling entrée to Hong Kong racing, where he is unbeaten in two starts on turf and a one-time failure on the all-weather.

Survey Survey's form makes for an interesting comparison with Sunny Sing, who also won two Class Two events over 1,400m around this time 12 months ago on the way to winning the Classic Mile.

Our speed ratings for Sunny Sing show him to have returned 107 and 108 in those lead-up wins, while Survey Survey has gone 106 and 110 in comparable races.

The American-bred galloper has moved up the Jockey Club's handicap ratings to a mark of 102, and on yesterday's list of Derby candidates he is fifth in the order of entry (with two horses yet to be given a rating).

He is now guaranteed a place in the Derby and trainer Tony Cruz can train him for the triple crown races without any anxiety about his making the final field of 14 for any of those events.

The first impression made by the Derby entries is the lack of depth of proven stayers among the four-year-old ranks at this stage of the season, with the top five all being established sprinters.

They are Floral Pegasus (120), Down Town (115), All's Well (113), Royal Delight (109) and Supreme Class (105).

It will therefore come down to the emerging gallopers, like Sunday's Class Three winner Towering Feeling, to push their way into contention through sheer performance.

He was an impressive winner of the Daisy Handicap, running the 1,400m in 1:21.7 - 0.5 seconds better than standard after factoring out the speed of the track on the day.