Simply The Best could prove to be well-named. The debutant was clearly too good for his rivals in the opener, the Class 4 Panashop Handicap (1200m) restricted to three-year-olds unraced prior to import at Sha Tin yesterday afternoon (Saturday, 9 November).

Danny Shum's charge looked anything but a novice as he quickened to an easy five and a quarter-length score under Joao Moreira. The winning time was a swift 1m 08.86s, just 0.40s outside the Class record.

“Very few young horses can do what he has just done and no doubt he's a promising one,” Moreira said.

“He looks and he feels very impressive and he gave big dues to his name – he was simply the best in the race. He was so professional, he did nothing wrong – he jumped well, travelled kindly on the bend and when I pressed him to speed up he responded quickly. With 300 metres to go I knew I was already the winner.”

Shum was delighted with the performance which he admitted had taken him a little by surprise.

“He trialled good and I thought he had a good chance but I didn't expect him to win by so far, to be honest! It was only three-year-olds so I don't think it was a strong field,” he said.