Happy Valley will see Class Two action for the first time in three weeks on Wednesday night and a course-and-distance specialist entered the fray on Tuesday to make the Wan Chai Gap Handicap (1,200m) all the more interesting.

With last-start Valley 1,000m winner Glory Elite scratched because of a tendon injury, Son Pak Fu was brought off the bench and given the chance to add to his seven career victories – all over 1,200m at the city circuit.

Son Pak Fu’s latest success came in a Class One over the Valley 1,200m in February, while he was fifth in the most recent six-furlong Class Two at the city circuit on March 19.

The Tony Cruz-trained six-year-old carried 135 pounds in that fifth-placed finish and will again lump a big weight of 134 pounds, although the gelding should be given every chance to run on under Matthew Chadwick in a race that shapes to have plenty of pace.

Last-start course-and-distance winner Harmony N Blessed will be one of the gallopers on pace as he looks to add to his fighting recent success, while Tomodachi Kokoroe – whose four Hong Kong wins have come over the Valley 1,200m – looks another with the potential to push forward.

But in a race littered with gallopers who come into their own over the city circuit’s six furlongs – Aurora Lady, Gustosisimo, Wonder Kit, Kaholo Angel and Brave Star are also multiple winners at the track and trip – it is a couple of young gallopers stepping into unfamiliar territory who could prove hardest to beat.

Trainer David Eustace is confident Colourful King will enjoy the step up in trip after impressing over the Valley 1,000m with two wins and a second, while Horsepower is rising in distance and grade after an eye-catching last-start success.

“This time we need to try 1,200m (because) at the moment there are no more 1,000m races at Happy Valley,” trainer Frankie Lor Fu-chuen said of Horsepower.

“I’ve trialled him once over 1,200m [and] he trialled good. I think he needs to relax in the early stages and then he can finish strongly.

“[Zac Purton] said he was more relaxed now in the 1,200m trial. That’s why I think he will handle 1,200m now.”

In other news, the Jockey Club has granted Brenton Avdulla a “leave of absence from Hong Kong for personal reasons,” meaning the Australian rider will miss the Valley meeting on June 11.