Trainer Lawrie Fownes emerged with a dark horse for the Derby as jockey Christophe Soumillon worked the oracle on import Himalaya in the Shek Lei Pui Stakes yesterday.
The new race which stretched the card to 11 events was created from the 'second division' four-year-olds who missed a start in the Classic Mile, but Fownes has his eye on a meeting with the first division on March 23.
'All his runs have been great here, he has acclimatised very quickly and he is just coming right,' Fownes said after Himalaya stormed over favourite Joyful Spirit to winning going away. 'He's quite a big horse and has needed the racing to get him fit. Now that he's right, we'll be pushing towards getting a Derby start.'
Fownes admitted that Himalaya was a question mark at the 2,000 metres of the Derby, but was not ruling out the possibility he would run it strongly.
'He was never tried beyond a mile overseas, but by the manner of his racing you would not be prepared to say he couldn't run it. That was quite a grinding win today,' he said.
'He has overraced a little in one or two other runs, but he was still a bit fresh in those races. Anyway, I'll look at how he comes through this and we'll try to put him in an 1,800 metres race before the Derby and we'll find out more.'