The luxury of an ideal draw and a return to the scene of his biggest win can see the Caspar Fownes-trained Lucky Nine bounce back to winning form in the Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) at Sha Tin today.
The Hong Kong Sprint winner is looking for his third Group One victory and looks ideally placed after a Centenary Sprint Cup sixth where the plan just went completely wrong.
Fownes and jockey Tye Angland elected to ride Lucky Nine behind the speed that day up the straight and decided to follow favourite Little Bridge to take Lucky Nine into the race.
Little Bridge, however, was going nowhere when the tempo lifted mid-race and Lucky Nine was behind him, which meant the race got going without him and that was the story of an event which connections will have to put behind them, filed under the heading of experience.
Lucky Nine (Brett Prebble) got to the line well when clear and the return to 1,200m is all in his favour, especially with a good draw and a speed to camp behind.
John Moore has already signalled his intention to return Leading City to the only tactics that have ever won him a race - leading at a good speed and daring others to get by him. Blaze King and dirt-specialist Dynamic Blitz are also forward runners, but Blaze King is extremely doubtful at 1,200m and may sit in the box seat in an effort to run it out better, while Dynamic Blitz will have to work across from his wide draw to make his impression felt on the tempo.
In any case, a good speed is the promise and that will suit Lucky Nine, who can travel strongly in a race, and Prebble, who has a tremendous record on the gelding with nine rides for four wins and three seconds.
