John Size is enjoying his best-ever season at Happy Valley in 2016-17 and the in-form Arm Runda can keep the roll going in a very tough Hong Kong Rugby Union Cup (1,200m) there on Thursday night.
The cup race looks one of the most open races on the card but Arm Runda (Olivier Doleuze) has the right ingredients to get away with the silverware – he is fast enough to stay in touch with what looks a strong pace and is still strong enough to hold any late closers at the finish.
The race is a scorcher on paper, and the addition of promoted reserve Timely Arrived (Keith Yeung Ming-lun) threw some fuel on what was already a very good pace.
There are fast horses inside and out at the gates, with Moment Of Power, Diamond Master (Brett Prebble), All Great Friends and Multimax all horses which will head forward early and then another regular leader, Timely Arrived, was thrown into the mix as well when Generous Heart was scratched.
Even Arm Runda led at his latest outing when third, but that was in a race without regular leaders and Doleuze might be more inclined to tag the faster ones tonight, taking the box seat where the gelding had won his prior two runs in Class Four.
Despite all the speed, it does look a race where the best hopes are mostly on the front end, and that’s where Arm Runda’s tactical speed comes in. He can sit off the real speedsters but still won’t have to give away too big a start.
Umberto Rispoli can end run of seconds with Very Rich Man at Happy Valley
Timely Arrived looks a danger and so does Diamond Master, who will also be forward but probably tucked in to relax him, and look for improvement from Numero Uno (Joao Moreira).
He won’t be part of the speed and, unfortunately, has to be demoted for his draw but his recent runs are better than they look, he does get the Magic Man and having some pace to run at should suit him.
