Champion King - the name says it all (19 Dec)

MARK YOUR CARD by MURRAY BELL

Every now and then a progressive young horse begins his climb up the ranks and punters invariably get it wrong when they determine he's reached his limit in the ratings.

Once such racehorse is Champion King, who showed plenty of character in defeat at Sha Tin on Sunday and his winning turn is far from over.

Champion King won at his two runs back from a spell and even caught his own stable by surprise first-up, winning over 1,400 metres at Sha Tin at odds of 30-1, under the guidance of apprentice Alex Lai Hoi-wing.

On that occasion, he led by a half length, travelled kindly, increased the tempo shortly after straightening and ultimately won by two lengths from Expeditious, with Diligent third, followed by Rich Dragon and Crystal.

Second up, Douglas Whyte was on board Champion King and he made light work of a 15-pound weight rise. Interestingly, Champion King ran exactly the figure you'd expect with the extra weight - in other words, the additional weight simply added to his rating but did not detract at all from his speed.

It was a similar situation on Saturday when Champion King finished second to progressive youngster Grand Cru.

On this occasion, he again returned the rating you would expect with his additional weight (five pounds), which took him to top weight of 132 pounds in this Class Three event.

But the Peter Ho Leung-trained galloper was forced to do it the tough way, caught three wide without cover with the big weight.

Under these circumstances, he was entitled to drop off once Grand Cru issued his challenge and went straight on by at the 200m. But Champion King knuckled down to his task and was reducing the margin again by the time the post arrived - an extremely admirable effort.

Champion King was on a Jockey Club rating of 80 for this race and his brave effort will tip him over the threshold into Class Two. But with the light weight he will carry in that grade, together with his natural tactical speed and his ability to take a position, he is going to take a world of beating next time out in the higher grade.

Champion King's sire, Monolith, is a very well-bred son of the late champion sire Danehill. And Monolith's dam, Significant Moment, was a daughter of three-time champion Australian sire Bletchingly, and a half-sister to the great sire Zabeel.

Grand Cru is a nice young horse as well - a son of Danehill's Golden Slipper-winning son Catbird.

Grand Cru raced four times as a youngster in Sydney and won a maiden at Randwick, but was placed on all four occasions.

Saturday was only his third Hong Kong start, and his second from a spell, so it's unlikely trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai has got to the bottom of this nicely bred young galloper yet.