Snaring a piece of tomorrow night's Triple Trio dividend at Happy Valley will take some luck but a low draw gives Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained three-year-old Wonderful Fighter a chance to make amends for a narrow last-start defeat in the final leg.
Wonderful Fighter was nailed right on the line over the same course and distance midway through last month and four weeks later returns to a 1,200m Class Four with a golden opportunity to go one better.
Yiu has had a great last few weeks with younger horses from his stable, with another three-year-old Happy Agility winning on debut at last Tuesday's public holiday meeting and two-year-old Happy Chappy doing the same in a griffin race on Sunday.
Wonderful Fighter hasn't shown the same precocity as that pair and he will need to have taken a step forward from that nose defeat last time out, but the son of Exceed And Excel does look like a horse with plenty of scope for improvement.
Wonderful Fighter seemed to be rushed into the early season griffin races, but has shown himself to be a more seasoned horse as he moves into the second half of the term and at start number seven he looks ready.
It's not an easy race by any means, nor are any of the three legs of the TT, but gate two will allow jockey Karis Teetan to perhaps not have to bustle Wonderful Fighter as much as he did last start and he should be able to comfortably take a sit just in behind the leading pair.
Drawn underneath Wonderful Fighter is tough old campaigner The Prince (Vincent Ho Chak-yiu) - another option as banker, who should be able to sit box seat. Crossing from gates 10 and 11 will be Tomodachi (Douglas Whyte) and Kim Glory (Howard Cheng Yue-tin), who both have to be considered on recent efforts.
Chin Chun (Olivier Doleuze) has some speed, but first time at the Valley, with blinkers off and gate 12 he is unlikely to come out gunning. With a good draw he would start favourite here though, and goes in, along with Secret Agent (Neil Callan) and Step Faster (Brett Prebble), who has drawn well as he drops in grade.
In the opening leg, a Class Four over 1,650m, Caspar Fownes brings Great Toplight (Ho) back to the Valley after a course and distance success two starts back and he has come up with a decent draw in barrier four.
He is banker, from One Of A Kind (Andreas Suborics), Tom's Charm (Keith Yeung Ming-lun) and two lightweight hopes, Sparkling Sword (Teetan) and Safari Magic (Cheng). Foodie's form doesn't look much on paper, but he could be a blowout chance as he drops in grade with a good draw and Nash Rawiller on to ride.
The middle leg is where to play narrow. Dilly (Rawiller) could start favourite after a surprise win over 1,000m on debut, but will be giving weight to a pair of horses who most expected to be rated much higher by this stage of the season, Shining Champion (Prebble) and Brilliant Dream (Callan).
Both Shining Champion and Brilliant Dream come to the Valley for the first time, and while that shouldn't be any reason not to play them as bankers, the fact they drew gates 10 and 11 respectively might be.
Dilly has drawn three as he steps up to a distance at which he won twice in New Zealand.
Still, perhaps the best banker is another lightly raced horse headed to the city track for the first time, Da Vinci (Ho), who should appreciate a drop back in trip with six weeks between runs.
All Win Boy (Suborics) is getting closer to a win and when it comes it will be over this course and distance, while Dashing Ceramibo (Yeung) will have some support.
One to risk that could be in the market is last-start winner Multiexpress - the map does not look great for him from gate eight, and he has won just one from 12 previously in Class Three.
