Ivan Allan was eyeing a familiar path to international glory after new recruit Jeune King Prawn landed a narrow victory over Red Pepper in the Group One Champions Mile. Next stop for the four-year-old Danehill colt is the Yasuda Kinen in Japan on June 2 - a race won by Allan's Fairy King Prawn in the same colours two years ago. 'Yes, the Yasuda Kinen is the aim with this horse now,' Allan said. 'He had to win this race if he was going to go to Japan, but I liked the way he quickened up today and he has beaten a very good horse. I put the lugging bit on him and he didn't hang like he has in his recent races. It was tight at the end, but he's a tough horse and it was a good win.' The similarities between the two 'King Prawns' are remarkable. Jeune King Prawn was having his first run for Allan since being switched from Ricky Yiu Poon-fie's stable by owner Philip Lau Sak-hong, just as Fairy King Prawn had been at around the same stage of his four-year-old career. After one run for Allan, when he finished second over 1,200 metres, Fairy King Prawn then landed the Yasuda Kinen to become the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win an overseas Group One race. Fairy King Prawn, of course, already had the Hong Kong Sprint on his roll of honour before joining Allan, whereas yesterday's win was Jeune King Prawn's first Group One success in domestic company. 'He's not done as much as Fairy King Prawn had at this stage, but he's a horse with potential,' Allan said. 'I'm grateful to the owner for giving me the chance to train this horse and I'm happy to have won another Group One for him. We'll have to see how far this horse can go now.' Jeune King Prawn reversed form with Red Pepper from their previous meeting in the Stewards' Cup in January, when the pair were separated by 3.75 lengths as they filled the minor placings behind Electronic Unicorn. Red Pepper looked an unlucky loser this time, having to weave his way through horses in the straight while Jeune King Prawn had a good run from midfield. The gap was a fast-diminishing short-head at the line, with Meridian Star only a neck away in third, and winning jockey Weichong Marwing admitted: 'The post came just in time for my horse, in another couple of strides he would have been beaten. When I hit the front I thought he was going to win a bit more easily than he did, but maybe he just needed the run.' Marwing, riding Jeune King Prawn for the first time since the Stewards' Cup, added: 'He didn't feel that much different today, but he's had a bit of a break since switching stables and maybe he's the type of horse who's best freshened up. The main concern for me was whether there would be a true speed, I didn't want a stop-start kind of race.' The South African jockey, who rode Fairy King Prawn to victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize on this day last year, said it was hard to assess the relative merits of Jeune King Prawn or his chance of emulating that success in Japan. 'They're very different types,' Marwing said. ''Fairy King Prawn has incredible acceleration from sprints to a mile, but Jeune King Prawn hasn't got such a quick change of pace. He's very tough, though, and he's an up-and coming horse, so hopefully he's going to improve some more. 'I think he would give a good account of himself in Japan if everything went right - if he travelled well, acclimatised well, ate well. But it would all depend on the opposition. If Eishin Preston ran, well that would be tough.'
