David Hayes is already looking forward to seeing what his exciting youngster Lucky Encounter can do next season, but that is not to say he is not confident the three-year-old can ring up his hat-trick at Sha Tin on Saturday.

Second behind fellow debutant Red Elegance in his first start, which came over 1,000m, Lucky Encounter has thrived over six furlongs in his past two outings.

After saluting by two and a half lengths in Class Four, Lucky Encounter stepped up in grade and took care of another promising three-year-old – Reward Smile – by three-quarters of a length.

The son of Epaulette sticks to 1,200m for Saturday’s Class Three Pok Fu Lam Country Park Handicap, and Hayes believes his charge can sign off for the season in the best possible fashion.

“He’ll be pretty hard to beat, I reckon. He missed the start the other day and led – not many young horses do that – and then got headed [and won], so he’s got good fight. He looks like he’s on an upwards scale, so fingers crossed,” Hayes said.

“We’ll probably put him aside after this run, and then I do think next season he’ll stretch out to 1,400m and a mile.

“He’s still a little bit aggressive in the early stages. I think you’ll see the real horse when he starts to relax a bit. Mentally, I don’t think he’s ready to go up in distance yet.”

Hayes knows barrier 10 will make life harder for Lucky Encounter and his pilot, Karis Teetan, but the gelding looks to strike an even race and in-form four-year-old Excellent Fighter – who has three wins and one second from six starts in his maiden campaign – has also drawn wide in 11.

Hayes also saddles another three-year-old in the contest, but he is very much expecting Solid Shalaa – who has a best finish of sixth from four Hong Kong starts – to need time.

“He’ll furnish next season, but he’s not a bad young horse. He’s got a future,” Hayes said of Solid Shalaa, who jumps from gate five under Matthew Poon Ming-fai.

It has been a tough season for Hayes, with gallopers like Straight Arron and Super Wealthy headlining a steady stream of departures from his stable, but he is still on track to post his best win tally since returning to Hong Kong for his second stint.

A two-time champion during his first stay at Sha Tin, Hayes managed 32 wins in his first season back in 2020-21 and 36 victories last term.

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After the win of Lean Hero at Happy Valley on Wednesday, Hayes has 34 successes to his name through 77 of this campaign’s 88 meetings.

“When you lose 26 horses in a year, you can’t expect to train too many winners. I’m hoping to get 40. I think when I was first here in 10 years I might have lost 10 horses – that’s how Hong Kong has changed,” Hayes said.

The 60-year-old handler also saddles Team Spirit, Metro Warrior, Inspiring City, Young Horizon and Red Majesty this weekend.