BACK on the first day of the present season Irish stayer Fortune Leader sprang a surprise when landing a 1,650-metre event at Sha Tin and he can do the same tonight and bring home the Piaget Gold Cup for connections.
It's possibly a tall order but this Irish stayer has invariably been underrated with the result that his supporters have frequently been able to help themselves to decent odds.
And that will surely be the case tonight as trainer David Hill has turned to Rambo Tse Wai-ho for a race that features some of the best gallopers in the territory.
Tse is a hard-working rider who has come in for considerable support from a variety of trainers but Hill explained: ''Rambo does ride for me and I like using him. But he was not my first choice for Fortune Leader who should run well here.
''But I simply could not get a top senior rider for the horse as they were all engaged. Rather than put up an apprentice I was happy to get Rambo as he does give a horse a good, hard ride and this fellow can take a bit of riding.'' Fortune Leader backed up after a break in a recent Happy Valley race where he came home solidly over the longer sprint - clearly too short for him. But the run brought him on and he has been working in top style for some time.
The horse needs at least tonight's 1,900 metres to be really effective and it's worth bearing in mind that he has mixed it with the very best locally over the past couple of seasons.
