With some of his main rivals drawn wide and the chance to sit behind a furious speed dual in the offing, Glory Years can give jockey Chris Munce his opening win for the season tonight at Happy Valley.
This time around he faces Class Three opposition in the Hong Kong Country Club Challenge Cup over 1,000m but the Almond Lee Yee-tat-trained Glory Years looks well up to the transition with conditions to suit.
After a string of frustrating and unlucky placings in the latter part of last season, often as favourite, Glory Years finally found his breakthrough over the Valley 1,000m (Class Four) in June. Gerald Mosse was able to bring the grey with a strong late finish to score by a head and a repeat of that performance is on the cards under Munce.
Glory Years, who finished eighth next-up, has since moved from the departing David Hayes to his former assistant Lee.Though the Australian is a noted barrier jockey, Glory Years should not have the speed or the inclination to match the likes of Keen Flyer, Golden Farm, Dragon Horse or New Milestone early.
But Munce should be able to position up handy to the back of the speedsters and have the drop on them when the field wheels into the straight.
As he showed in June, soft ground would not be against Glory Years but he is just as adept if the rain stays away and the going is good. Valley specialist Amo (Glyn Schofield) will also be the beneficiary of the hot pace, though he is probably seen at his best over the 1,200m trip. Now trained by rookie conditioner Me Tsui Yu-sak, who will have his first runner tonight, Amo has tended to run well early in the season.