Perfect Fun looks one of the few standout bets on tonight's tricky Happy Valley card.
The Geoff Lane-trained chestnut had gone firmly into the notebook as a likely Class Four winner prior to his debut in the 1,000-metre Valley dash won by Able Regal at the meeting immediately prior to International Day.
Perfect Fun chased him home that day, ridden by Eddie Lai in one of the races reserved for the international jockeys' competition.
Lai is a promising young rider but he's not in the same league as the world superstars he was taking on. Indeed, he never did outride his claim - he was simply granted a senior licence when he turned 25. It showed to an extent on Perfect Fun, who missed the start before staying on strongly to be 2.5 lengths second with the third, Winning Express, a further 2.75 lengths away.
At the time it didn't look a particularly strong sprint. In fact the form of this race has worked out remarkably well.
Winning Express has come out and won and been placed on the dirt; Double Wins (fourth) has placed twice; Holy Wine (sixth) has won; De Integro (seventh) has run third; Hero's Way (eighth) has won on the dirt and Super Connections (11th) has also won.
Perfect Fun was also slightly checked through the run that day and should improve naturally for the outing alone.
