At one point in Giant Turtle's Hong Kong career, it seemed unlikely that he would ever find a suitable race, but the five-year-old is riding a wave of confidence and jockey Chad Schofield believes he is ready to show his full potential by scoring a third consecutive victory in the Class 3 Mut Wah Handicap (1650m) at Happy Valley on Thursday night (2 February).
"He's in a real good space at the moment," Schofield said at Sha Tin trackwork on Wednesday morning (1 February). "He came here pretty highly-rated, he was a New Zealand Derby horse, and he's dropped all the way down to Class 4. Now he's working his way back up again, and his last two runs would have been a confidence booster too."
Imported from New Zealand in May, 2015, Giant Turtle (118lb) had won just one of his six starts when trained by Bruce Wallace. However, the gangly gelding's best piece of form came with a second in the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m), beaten a half-length by two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year Mongolian Khan, a performance that earned him a starting local rating of 82 when he debuted at Sha Tin in September, 2015.
Giant Turtle's first 10 Hong Kong starts were a disappointment, though, as he finished no better than 11th, beating a total of 11 horses in those runs. His temperament got the better of him and he struggled to acclimatise to Hong Kong – first for trainer Gary Ng and then for Andreas Schutz.
However, under Schutz, he finally turned his form around at the end of the season, and new trainer Tony Millard has been able to capitalise this term. The son of the late Zabeel began this campaign with two seconds at Happy Valley before putting together two wins in Class 4 at the city circuit, the latest a facile two and a quarter length success under Schofield.
Schofield is reunited with the bay as he steps back up into Class 3 and the rider is confident that a hat-trick is in the offing for the gelding.
"He's obviously won his last two, his last win was quite soft with me albeit in a weaker grade," he said. "Again we've drawn nicely, we'll get a nice run and we should be going very close. It's a handy field, a couple of in-form horses in there, but he is too and it's going to be interesting to see how he goes up in class.
"He's quite a temperamental horse, so no doubt, prior to his purple patch, he would have been real down with confidence. Since the switch to Tony, he's really turned it around and he's been running very well so let's hope that can continue." -HKJC
"He's in a real good space at the moment," Schofield said at Sha Tin trackwork on Wednesday morning (1 February). "He came here pretty highly-rated, he was a New Zealand Derby horse, and he's dropped all the way down to Class 4. Now he's working his way back up again, and his last two runs would have been a confidence booster too."
Imported from New Zealand in May, 2015, Giant Turtle (118lb) had won just one of his six starts when trained by Bruce Wallace. However, the gangly gelding's best piece of form came with a second in the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m), beaten a half-length by two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year Mongolian Khan, a performance that earned him a starting local rating of 82 when he debuted at Sha Tin in September, 2015.
Giant Turtle's first 10 Hong Kong starts were a disappointment, though, as he finished no better than 11th, beating a total of 11 horses in those runs. His temperament got the better of him and he struggled to acclimatise to Hong Kong – first for trainer Gary Ng and then for Andreas Schutz.
However, under Schutz, he finally turned his form around at the end of the season, and new trainer Tony Millard has been able to capitalise this term. The son of the late Zabeel began this campaign with two seconds at Happy Valley before putting together two wins in Class 4 at the city circuit, the latest a facile two and a quarter length success under Schofield.
Schofield is reunited with the bay as he steps back up into Class 3 and the rider is confident that a hat-trick is in the offing for the gelding.
"He's obviously won his last two, his last win was quite soft with me albeit in a weaker grade," he said. "Again we've drawn nicely, we'll get a nice run and we should be going very close. It's a handy field, a couple of in-form horses in there, but he is too and it's going to be interesting to see how he goes up in class.
"He's quite a temperamental horse, so no doubt, prior to his purple patch, he would have been real down with confidence. Since the switch to Tony, he's really turned it around and he's been running very well so let's hope that can continue." -HKJC