A REMINDER that the flat season “proper” is just around the corner came early on Sunday morning, when Ryan Moore won the Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin on Ping Hai Star, coming from last to first with some swift closing sectionals. I make the timefigure a very decent 115, with third-placed Exultant (known as Irishcorrespondent when trained by Mick Halford in Ireland) on 110.

Those figures have not just been plucked from thin air, as the Hong Kong Jockey Club assist with the understanding of the sport in their jurisdiction by publishing credible standard times and sectional pars by race-grade, from which workable time analysis can be arrived at.

I will be in Hong Kong next month for the Audemar Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup – won in 2009 by Moore aboard the Luca Cumani-trained Presvis – so you may hear more about what Hong Kong does better than Ireland and Britain then!

AMERICA

Similarly far away, the latest big trial for the Kentucky Derby took place in Arkansas with the Rebel Stakes, won by the likes of Smarty Jones, Curlin and American Pharoah previously.

This year’s contest went to Magnum Moon with a Timeform US figure which translates to about 113 on a European scale. I still suspect Bolt d’Oro is comfortably the most talented horse being aimed towards Churchill Downs.