Happy Valley bid adieu to 2017 with a Singapore Sling. Tony Millard’s galloper snatched Hong Kong’s final race of the year tonight (Wednesday, 27 December) under Tommy Berry and now looks destined for the upcoming Four-Year-Old Classic Series.

A G2 winner in South Africa pre-import, Singapore Sling (121lb) settled mid-rank under Berry in the Class 2 Chai Wan Kok Handicap (1650m); up ahead the John Moore-trained Beauty Prince (107lb) cut out the running under 7lb claimer Matthew Poon.

The leader kicked on at the top of the home run as Berry shifted wide and stoked his mount for a run to the post. Singapore Sling responded with an impressive 22.62s closing 400m split that was enough to snare Beauty Prince a stride from the line and seal a head verdict.

“His form overseas before he came here, he got back a little bit and was always storming home,” Berry said of the market’s 6.5 fourth pick.

“He’s got pretty good credentials for coming here and he’ll only improve. He was still a bit on his toes, so when he learns to relax and settle down a bit more in his races he’ll be fine.”

Singapore Sling was recording his first Hong Kong win at start two, following a presaging sixth of 12 behind Pingwu Spark over 1400m at Sha Tin at the end of November when Nash Rawiller was in the plate.

“I followed him last start when I was aboard Rivet,” Berry said. “They went very slow and he made that run quite wide around the bend – he let down well and just looked like he got a bit tired late. Nash gave me a lot of confidence before I went out on him tonight.

“He looks a good prospect for the four-year-old series, he’s a nice horse and we’ve got some nice horses at John’s (Moore) that are heading that way and he’ll be in the same mould as them.”