Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes Review: Happy On Right Trail To Plate

Happy Trails won at Moonee Valley
The stellar start to the Spring preparation of Happy Trails continued at Moonee Valley last Saturday with a career-best performance in the Group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m)...
Paul Beshara's stable star has gone from strength to strength so far this preparation, improving with each run he's had since winning the Group 3 Spring Stakes first up. Last campaign, the five-year-old generally settled back in his runs and often found himself the victim of circumstance, with his luckless Doncaster Mile outing a case in point.
This campaign though, since arriving in Melbourne under the guidance of Glen Boss, Happy Trails has been ridden more positively and connections have reaped the rewards.
Last Saturday, Happy Trails found himself positioned ideally one off the fence behind the leaders and peeled out turning for home where he commenced a stride-for-stride battle with Green Moon. The Good Journey five-year-old in the end scored a narrow victory with the effort on Timeform figures going down as a career best for Happy Trails.
His run yielded a Timeform rating of 121, 2 lb higher than the previous master rating of 121 he ran to when second in the Memsie Stakes (1400m). Happy Trails is a very honest customer but is not yet in the same calibre as some of the star gallopers who have claimed this event during the previous five renewals. The gelding's run, assessed at 121, sits below the Dato Tan Chin Nam's previous five-year-average which has been bolstered due to successes by some of Australia's best middle distance types of recent seasons.
Whobegotyou claimed back to back Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes wins during 2009 and 2010. The eight-time Group winner saved some of his best career runs for Moonee Valley. Mark Kavanagh's former stable star saluted in the 2009 renewal with a performance assessed at 127 and exceeded that by 1 lb when claiming the Group 2 for the second time a year later. 128 would remain Whobegotyou's master rating, which he also ran up to when finishing third in the 2010 Cox Plate behind So You Think.
The other notable Dato Tan Chin Nam winner of the previous five years was El Segundo. El Segundo saluted as favourite during the 2007 renewal by a narrow margin over Haradasun. Awarded a figure of 123, El Segundo then improved a further 2 lb on returning to Moonee Valley when victorious in the 2007 Cox Plate (2040m).
Like Whobegotyou and El Segundo, the Cox Plate at this stage is the main spring goal for Happy Trails. Jockey Glen Boss has already indicated the lucrative feature event will likely be too tough for the five-year-old, instead suggesting Happy Trails be kept at races around the mile this spring. That opinion is unexpected to deter Beshara from aiming his charge at the $3million Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) on October 27.
It will be here Happy Trails faces his toughest test to date with the Morphettville based galloper set to do battle with the likes of Pierro, More Joyous and Manighar.
Get FREE Timeform Star Ratings & Verdicts for racing in Australia and New Zealand at timeform.com/free/