VETERAN sprinter Highway Patrol has never hit any great heights in his lengthy local career but he has won his share of races - and you can't say that about too many horses who find themselves getting closer to the bottom of Class Six.
His years are catching up on his zip but Highway Patrol has been relatively sparingly raced this season and the 10-year-old can give regular rider Johnny K. S. Ho a welcome win today.
Highway Patrol is in the second event over 1,200 metres, a distance at which he has been effective in the past.
His runs this season have had considerable merit and with just a stroke of luck he would already have won a race. Basil Marcus came very close in a short dash on equitrack and then Ho came from a long way back to be a near certainty beaten in a longer sprint at the Valley.
This 13-runner affair is not redolent with chances and from barrier five Ho should have Highway Patrol in a good position during the run.
His last race was a disappointment when he was backed into 2-1 but found little in an event won by Love Not War, who had finished well behind Highway Patrol in their previous run. Class Six form, however, can be decidedly patchy.