Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli rode five of the 11 trial winners at Sha Tin yesterday, four of them for Tony Millard, including the last three on the dirt for the South African trainer.
Building on the momentum of his recent breakthrough double, Rispoli punched home Manfred Man Ka-leung's Dragimova, before riding True Courage, Masquerader, Danzulu and Uwillbeglorious for Millard.
Dragimova was given a rev up by Rispoli to dash from the rear to take his 1,000m turf trial, the three-year-old looking ready for the races after his fourth local trial, following one in Australia.
Unraced three-year-old True Courage had three early season trials and was stepping out with other horses for the first time since December last year. He equipped himself well, sporting a shadow roll as he clocked splits of 23.9 and 22.9 for an overall time of 46.8, tearing along the grandstand rail to beat Me Tsui Yu-sak's Green Eagle by 31/4 lengths.
The final turf trial of the morning saw an all-star line-up of eight Audemars Piguet QE II and BMW Champions Mile hopefuls contest a 1,600m hit-out, with Dan Excel (Brett Prebble) pushed to lead home a group which produced no surprises.
The three all-weather trials may have been more revealing, with Masquerader producing another exceptional display on the surface.