Survey Survey is back in the groove (12 June)

MARK YOUR CARD by MURRAY BELL

While Egyptian Ra was solid and favourite Helene Brilliant slightly disappointing, there's no doubt the biggest performance in last Saturday's Group Three HSBC Premier Cup came from runner-up Survey Survey.

The Tony Cruz-trained galloper has had a broken preparation stemming from an accident shortly after being saddled for the Mercedes-Benz Derby Trial on February 20.

On that occasion, Survey Survey stood on one of his front racing places, ripped it off and drove a nail into his hoof. He was scratched from the race on veterinary advice.

This was a compound problem for Cruz. Firstly, the British-bred gelding missed the race that he required in order to have sufficient race fitness for his target race, the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby. The added complication was that he had to fully recover from the foot problem before he could resume normal work.

With all this happening, it should have come as no surprise to anyone that Survey Survey failed to beat a runner home in the Derby, won by Vital King. But then came the hard part, picking the four-year-old back up again to be competitive at shorter distances.

Anyone who has seen what Cruz has achieved in recent seasons shouldn't be the least surprised that the master horseman has been able to pull it off, although it's still a work in progress.

Survey Survey ran seventh to Crown's Master in the Hong Kong-Macau Trophy and then fourth to his high-class stablemate Royal Prince in the ATV 50th Anniversary Cup at 1,600 metres on yielding-to-soft ground on May 20.

It's a measure of the quality of Royal Prince that Survey Survey's speed rating, 111, on that occasion was the same as he ran to on Saturday behind Egyptian Ra, even though he was beaten five lengths on the former occasion.

In his latest effort, the track was playing heavily in favour of horses racing either in front or close to the speed. Having drawn barrier 11, Olivier Doleuze had little option on Survey Survey but to go back on him and consequently he was last of the 13 "active" starters at the 800m before making his run wide and late.

At the start of the classic trail, Survey Survey won two races at 1,400m and while he was certainly impressive enough in those victories, it was his performance behind stablemate Floral Pegasus in his Group One debut that really stamped his potential.

He ran fifth in the Classic Mile on January 28, but under severe difficulties. Survey Survey was unbalanced twice in the early part of the straight and then blocked again at the 300m. He battled on to be beaten by only 2 3/4 lengths in a run of obvious merit.

Survey Survey is a gelding by the highly-bred Mr Prospector stallion Chester House, whose dam Toussaud, the 2002 USA Broodmare of the Year, has produced four Grade One winners in Honest Lady, Chiselling, and Empire Maker in addition to "Chester".