He´ll be right up there, forcing the pace

Osterhase, the hope of Ireland in the CXHK Sprint, had a good look at his new surroundings at Sha Tin this morning. He took his time before he consented to walk onto the all-weather track, but looked on good terms with himself.

His trainer John Mulhern was at hand to see his smart sprinter, who finished an excellent fourth to Var in the Prix de L´Abbaye at Longchamp on October 3. He has emerged as Ireland´s fastest horse this year, but Mulhern did sound a word of caution over his five-year-old.

'He is a wilful horse. He does what he wants, when he wants and that is that. He can be a beast at the stalls and needs to go in last or he can cause hell and be a danger to all. He´s no problem to load, but once he´s in he just likes to get on with it. He´ll be right up there, forcing the pace. He takes a big gulp and runs on one breath.'

Mulhern said he has a letter from the Turf Club in Ireland requesting that Osterhase be loaded last prior to the jump for the world´s richest 1000m dash on Sunday.

Yell´s trainer John Hawkes arrived in Hong Kong yesterday and was pleased with what he saw this morning. 'The horse looks terrific, he´s obviously settled in well and he is eating and drinking exactly as you´d hope.'

Yell cantered two laps off the all-weather track this morning and is unlikely to be pushed strongly at any stage on the track this week.

'He zoomed down a couple of furlongs on Saturday morning and he is where he should be. He was fit when left. It´s a bit late to be trying to get them fit once they are here.'

Abbaye winner Var was also out on the all-weather and looked very well as he breezed.

The easy winner of the Gr.1 Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama in October, Calstone Light Owas did light work, cantering easily on the dirt. Trainer Hiroyuki Oneda said: 'I came here earlier because I wanted to see what was going on with my horse. He was a little bit in a tense in transit but he will be fine as he acclimatises.'