Jazzy Feeling has been threatening the winning post for some time and he gets the ideal opportunity to make good on that threat in Wednesday night's Police Cup (1,650m) at Happy Valley.
Trainer Richard Gibson narrowly missed in this Class Three trophy last year with Always Something and missing out narrowly has been something Jazzy Feeling (Olivier Doleuze) has done on a regular basis.
In eight starts since his only win at Happy Valley last May, Jazzy Feeling has been beaten more than a length just once and finished second four times including his last two appearances, so a win would not be out of turn.
Those last two were his first attempts at the Valley 1,650m and he handled the step in distance well, running on behind the in-form Enthusiasm, who handled himself well in a higher grade on Sunday.
For a horse with his style, tempo is a major factor and that will be working for him, as quite a few on-pace runners take their place in the field.
Invictus may have the jump on his rivals for the lead by virtue of his inside gate but the likes of Smart Ball (Matthew Chadwick), Flying Chaparral, Electronic Fortune, Spinning Dancer and Sight Lover like to race prominently as well.
That should see Jazzy Feeling settling closer to the rear than the front from barrier eight, but the competitive lead tempo will also soften up those ahead and allow late closers into the finish.
His danger looks to be Lucky Bonus (Keith Yeung Ming-lun) who put on such a remarkable show to win in Class Four last time at Sha Tin after missing the start by a huge margin. Horses who win like that out of the blue often never repeat it, however, it was the first time we had seen Lucky Bonus running on instead of being ridden handy, so the victory may simply have highlighted what he had all along if ridden differently.
