Staying prospect Razor Quest brought up a hat-trick of wins with a dominant Class Three performance, but Michael Chang Chun-wai is thinking of Group Threes or beyond and hopes his horse will be contesting yesterday's feature race a year from now.
Chang's gentle progression of the English import with moderate overseas form means Razor Quest has not yet been tried beyond a mile, but that is where the gelding is headed after an easy three-length win that will probably put the four-year-old's rating on the brink of Class Two.
"The 2016 Queen Mother Memorial Cup? He could be that good," Chang said when asked if the 2,400m staying race was a long-term target.
"He is a really good horse, he has a big heart and, if he keeps improving, he could be anything. He is just so relaxed and his attitude is good.
"Maybe I will give him one more run this season, but next season, if he can keep improving like he has, I think he can get further, up to 2,000m and a mile and a half."
Chang's go-to man Olivier Doleuze was back aboard Razor Quest and said he was not concerned with his wide draw, especially given the state of the deteriorating course proper after heavy rain during the meeting.
"The rain didn't worry me at all because he does everything right," Doleuze said after sitting four and five deep in the run, but with cover. "On the way to the start he was very smooth. We had no real choice as to how to ride him from barrier 13, but when there is rain like that you have to approach the race completely differently anyway.
"When I had won on him before we had a wide gate, and today we had a little trail and got in the good part of the track."
Doleuze was aboard Chang's earlier winner, Elegance Klammer, a frustrating seven-year-old who last won in June 2012 for previous trainer John Moore and had been with two trainers since then.
Elegance Klammer's rating had tumbled from a peak of 93 down to 49 yesterday, but Doleuze said it was a move to blinkers and a switch to Sha Tin that was the key for a horse he said was an enigma.
"He is one of the best workers I have ridden in the mornings and I can't believe it has taken him this long to win," Doleuze said after the narrow victory. "Sometimes those blinkers can only work once with an old horse, but let's hope it works again.
"Sometimes at Happy Valley he doesn't get the speed he needs, but 1,400m here, where they run along a bit quicker, it was perfect."
