Fownes has high hopes for Derby

Trainer Caspar Fownes will take the brilliant record of new star stallion High Chaparral with him into today's HK$14 million Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby and has declared himself 'even more confident' of success than with last year's hero, Super Satin.

Defending champion Fownes is three-handed in the race, with Let Me Handle It, Mark Up and Victor Delight, but it is Let Me Handle It, from the sensational first southern hemisphere season of High Chaparral, who carries the weight of expectation.

High Chaparral stood his first Australasian season at Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand and that crop of horses included not only the dual Cox Plate winning champion So You Think, but also the Victoria and Australian Derby winners and a remarkable first three finishers in the latter race.

Now that crop is aged four and Let Me Handle It stands on the verge of being yet another big star to emerge from it.

'I did think Super Satin would be hard to beat but, if anything, I'm even more confident with this guy,' Fownes said yesterday, and long-range planning is the underpinning factor to the trainer's enthusiasm.

'Last year, Super Satin was targeted for the Derby from many months before and the plan for the Derby has been in place virtually from the time Let Me Handle It came into the stable last season. When he was still in Class Four, I said to the owner that this was a serious Derby horse and that everything we did would be carefully planned step by step along the path to this race.'

With Lucky Nine also in the stable and targeted at the Classic Mile, Fownes was happy to miss that race with Let Me Handle It, knowing he would come into his own in the longer races.