At his Malaysian debut on Oct 4, Legends Never Fade was sent off a raging favourite, but finished dead last in that Kuala Lumpur Class 3 1,200m race won by Pacific Hawk.

According to the Stewards’ report, he raced wide throughout.

The performance was a real head-scratcher given the useful ex-Hong Kong galloper had stepped into the race on the back of a super win at the Sungai Besi trials on Sept 29 when he clocked 59.35sec for the 1,000m on grass.

The Deep Field seven-year-old returned to the trials on the morning of Oct 27. Like it was at that previous hit-out, he did everything right, if not, in even more dominant fashion.

Ridden by Fikri Ismail, the gelding put his rivals to the sword when romping in by a massive 11 lengths.

What made it more impressive was the fact that, although he cantered in, Legends Never Fade still managed to go under a minute, clocking 59.31sec for the trip. It was the fastest time recorded that morning.

It now remains to be seen if the handsome chestnut is ready to put right what went wrong at that last start.

The answer will be found in a Class 3 race (1,200m) trainer Lawson Moy has entered him in at the Selangor Turf Club on Nov 1.

It may still not be easy as he meets some horses with really strong credentials, but from his three wins, all over 1,200m at Happy Valley, he should know what it takes to win races.

The other highlight of the day’s trials was a newcomer from trainer Jason Lim, Perfect Invincible.

The Lonhro four-year-old was having a starting stall test and, racing with blinkers for the first time, he did a neat job over the 1,000m on grass.

Ridden by Oscar Chavez in the first jump-out of the morning, Perfect Invincible broke well to settle in the shadow of the early leader Pacific Falcon (Lim Shung Uai).

Straightening up, he hit the front 300m out and although challenged by the Simon Dunderdale-trained Pantong (Jose de Souza) in the closing stages, he stuck to his guns to win by half-a-length in the smart time of 59.63sec.

Owned by the War Horse Racing Stable, Perfect Invincible did his early racing as Cenotaph for the mighty Godolphin in Australia where his best showing was a third-place finish in a 1,250m race on a heavy track in Newcastle on May 3, 2025.

He looks ready to start paying for his keep at his new home.