Smart Giant A Horse To Follow

Smart Giant completed a winning treble at Sha Tin last night for trainer John Moore and the best is yet to come from the progressive three-year-old. The son of Pins has now won two of his six starts and has only once failed to weigh in.

He was ridden to an impressive victory over 1400 metres by expatriate South African jockey Jeff Lloyd who was full of praise for the horse. “He shuffled out of the stalls and did a few things wrong and we had some work to do to get into a decent position,” he said.

“But he’s got a good turn of foot and put himself back in the race when it mattered and he really is just still learning. For an immature big baby, he probably couldn’t have done more than what he did winning but when he gets over further as a four-year-old, that’s when you’ll see the best of him.”

A $A160,000 yearling buy out of WS’s Sydney Easter draft in 2009, Smart Giant is out of the O’Reilly mare Spring who has now left four winners, including the outstanding mare Daffodil (No Excuse Needed). Raced by the Chittick family, the $1 million earner was retired last year with three Gr 1 victories to her credit in the AJC Oaks, NZ 1000 Guineas and the Hawke’s Bay Challenge Stakes.