Able Friend dominant in Classic Mile..
Darryl Sherer - 20/01/2014
Able Friend announced his arrival at the top level in Hong Kong with a dominant victory in Saturday's Group I Classic Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin.
The John Moore-trained son of Shamardal was making just his fifth start in Hong Kong but looks every inch a future star performer, cruising clear of his rivals early in the home straight and then kept up to his work by Joao Moreira to pass the post a half-length clear of stablemate Designs On Rome, who made ground late.
Able Friend stopped the clock at 1:33.43 seconds and Moore was full of praise for the five-year-old Australian-bred, now the winner of four of his five races in Hong Kong.
"This is the best Classic Mile field that I've seen since I've been in Hong Kong, and from that point of view, I think I've got the real deal on my hands. I believe he'll be one of Hong Kong's leading lights in the future," Moore said.
"He's so versatile, you can put him anywhere in a race, you can put him up front, you can come back, but the way the race panned out today he was in the perfect position." Moore said.
Moreira was winning for the first time at Group One level in Hong Kong and he echoed Moore's thoughts.
"I probably got to the front a little too early but he was just too good," said.
"He could possibly be the best horse I have ridden. I was expecting to be fighting for the win, I was confident the horse would win but I didn't expect it to be so easy."
Able Friend sold for $550,000 as a yearling at the Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale.
He was trained in Australia by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, finishing second on debut at Rosehill in November 2012 and then winning at Wyong over 1350 metres on November 22, 2012 before being transferred to Hong Kong.
