Inside gate can prove Prosperous
A vital inside draw at Happy Valley tonight is all that the Me Tsui Yu-sak-trained Prosperous needs to get back into the winner's photo after the American Club Challenge Cup (1,000m).
Already a winner at two of his five starts over the Happy Valley 1,000m, Prosperous (Zac Purton) has also finished fourth twice with circumstances against him, and his only failure at the trip was in June when he pulled up lame after the race.
A son of a Victoria Derby winner in Blackfriars, Prosperous is nevertheless all about sprinting up to this stage of his career, but he does relish a pace up front and that should be the scenario this time.
Speedy runners like Ever Beauty, My Time, Jun Dao, Healthy Farm and Our Pegasus will be the ones looking for the front positions, while Purton is able to bide his time on Prosperous with a rails run behind them.
First-up for the season he had no such luxury when drawing badly in gate 10 over the same course. Purton was forced to go back to the rear in a similar trophy race and find the inside passage, but gave away a good start in doing so. He made up considerable ground behind At Moment In Time to run fourth.
With the same energy expenditure, Prosperous should be considerably closer to the leaders in the run to the home turn and will be fitter for the sake of that race to clean out the summer cobwebs as well.
Ever Beauty (Tye Angland) will find the drop back to 1,000m a big positive after leading up at 1,200m when he finished midfield on resuming.
A horse who has been his own worst enemy at times due to overracing, Ever Beauty clicked with Derek Cruz last season after dropping down to Class Four, then carried that through to win in Class Three as well in July, though those wins have shot him back up in the ratings.
Our Pegasus would be dangerous from a better gate, but he can be a hesitant beginner and a low draw is more forgiving of that trait, allowing him to drive through inside to a good position. Barrier eight is not his friend, but trainer Francis Lui Kin-wah has him going well if he doesn't make any mistakes.
Perfect timing
Prosperous made plenty of ground last start to clock a brisk time for the final 400m: 22.7
