In-form Dennis Yip Chor-hong will use a tried-and-tested formula for Ho Ho Life, who can bounce back into Class Three off a two-week break and a step up in trip to win at Happy Valley tomorrow night.
Yip is mixing it with the big guns with just over half the season gone. He is third in the trainers' battle with 27 wins behind former title holders John Size (43) and Tony Cruz (33), and his last-start winner looks a stand-out in the opening leg of the Triple Trio.
Just over a year ago Ho Ho Life won back-to-back races with Yip using the same progression from 1,650m to tomorrow night's 1,800m.
With the same jockey in the saddle, the incomparable Douglas Whyte, Ho Ho Life gets a dream draw (three) and a weak Class Three to strike.
Ho Ho Life has battled a tendon problem and lameness issues this season, but the five-year-old seems to have moved beyond them, judging by the way he sprinted at the end of 1,650m last start.
Whyte took the horse back in the field, and when he rounded the turn, Ho Ho Life quickened nicely to put himself in the race and scored by a convincing 1 1/2 lengths.