Hong Kong, September 24 – Talented Magic Albert five year-old Good Strike made his seasonal debut at Happy Valley on Wednesday evening in the Class Three event over 1000 metres and scored a commanding win in slick time.
The Almond Lee trained sprinter settled in fifth spot just behind the pace and finished with a sensational late dash to win by two and three-quarter lengths, clocking 56,58 seconds.
"I was worried about him at Happy Valley," Lee said. "[Good Strike] has been slowly away in the past and that is a concern at this track. But tonight he was fresh and when Keith (jockey Keith Yeung) had him sitting in midfield behind a strong pace, I was confident after 200metres Good Strike was going to run a strong race.
"At Sha Tin he’d been struggling to get into 1,200 metre races last season, but was in touch over 1,000metres. I knew he’d finish strongly with a light weight."
A barrier trial winner at Cessnock in June of 2007, Good Strike was sold privately to Hong Kong and was exported in July of 2008, with the outbreak of EI playing havoc with travel arrangements and delaying his arrival in Hong Kong.
As a result he’s had just five starts for two wins and two seconds, so looks to have plenty of upside for the future.
Good Strike is one of five winners from the metropolitan winning Naturalism mare Cupro, who was covered by Magic Albert last spring.