At the start of the season, it seemed unlikely that royally bred Infinity Endeavour would get to July still a maiden but he gets one final turn to break through in the Hong Kong Riding For The Disabled Association Cup (1,600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Infinity Endeavour (Joao Moreira) made a promising start with a close fourth at his first race start on New Year’s Day but soon after suffered a setback in training.
Trainer John Size didn’t get Infinity Endeavour to the races again until early May when he was again very solid, running second to the in-form and promising Sight Leader.
More solid seconds followed to Care Free Prince at 1,400m and most recently Po Ching Treasure when Infinity Endeavour stepped to the mile for the first time.
Moreira was able to ping the gates that day from barrier nine, lead and control the race and he might try to do the same on Sunday with a slightly better draw and cheek pieces going on.
His main opposition for the lead, The Show and Unique Happiest (Kei Chiong Ka-kei) have drawn under him but they don’t always muster speed all that fast from the gates.
And Unique Happiest can easily hold the box seat if Moreira does cross and has been effective from that position in the past.
Joao Moreira rides Infinity Endeavour in a barrier trial at Sha Tin.
There certainly has not been a lot wrong with what Infinity Endeavour has done in his abbreviated career to date and the staying-bred three-year-old will be a better horse after a summer break.
But he has the necessary talent to get home with this one and break his maiden before Size puts him away to mature.
Unique Happiest looks a danger in the race after getting back to his best form at Happy Valley last start when just touched off by Clever Spirit.
Although he has won at 1,800m, it does look the absolute limit of his stamina and Unique Happiest had looked gassed at the finish over 1,800m at his first two runs back in Class Four before the latest 1,650m effort.
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Whether he leads here or takes the box seat, the six-year-old is tough to beat in this grade with the right run and will make the younger horses earn it.
Such A Happiness (Neil Callan) has been the punters’ nightmare in recent months but is another three-year-old of promise and much better drawn than last start.
He would be a really strong danger if he happened to get a good speed but looks tactically narrow at this stage of his career and has shown a tendency to over-race in the soft kind of pace he looks like getting here.
