There may be others involved in the Group Three Sa Sa Ladies' Purse with ambitions to sneak onto the international stage through it, but trainer Richard Gibson has his feet on the ground and his eyes firmly on Sunday's prize with Got Fly.

The last horse to come through the Ladies' Purse and be considered a main player on international day was Hello Pretty, owned by Sa Sa's Simon Kwok Siu-ming. He won the Purse on the way to starting a well-rumbled favourite in the smackdown Hong Kong Cup of 2006.

Since then, others have made their way to international day via this race, but more as fringe hopefuls, with Packing Whiz probably the best of them finishing fifth in the Mile.

The handicap ratings might give Got Fly few options if he does win on Sunday, but Gibson is adamant that he has not looked beyond this weekend.

"At the start of the year, I thought we would do well to win a Group race with Got Fly," said Gibson, who finished runner-up in the Derby with the former French horse. "He did a really good job winning a couple and placing in the Derby, but as the year went on, I realised that this was the right race for him and the Ladies' Purse has been his target since July.

"He looks well rated at his current mark and he has to be one of the big chances. Running in an international at level weights? That's another thing altogether."

Which is not to say that Got Fly's arrival second-up into the Purse has come without a hiccup.

"He had a setback in the off season which delayed him being ready for his first race back," the trainer explained. "Then it was our intention to run him over 1,600m at Sha Tin and he didn't get into the race, so we were forced to take him to Happy Valley over 1,650m with a big weight in Class Two and I thought he did a fantastic job there to finish second. He's unbeaten at the distance and ticks a lot of boxes for Sunday."

Gibson also confirmed that Christophe Soumillon would take over from Douglas Whyte on Gold-Fun in the Jockey Club Sprint and the Longines Hong Kong Sprint.

"Christophe won a Group One on Gold-Fun last season and the owner made it clear that he wanted him on the horse in the Hong Kong Sprint," Gibson said. "It just happens that he is available for the prep run, so he'll come to ride him in that as well."