The return to all-weather racing at Sha Tin tonight should put the Tony Millard-trained Keen Flyer back in the winner's circle and end the winning run of Sun Power.
The all-weather is traditionally the stage for the midweek meeting preceding international week and always full of interest as many horses which need the dirt surface get opportunities that are scarce at other times of the season, but Keen Flyer has already shown great form and gets his chance to turned the tables on Tony Cruz-trained Sun Power (Felix Coetzee).
In a race with few apparent chances, Keen Flyer (Dwayne Dunn) looks to have the speed to lead most of his rivals clearly from the pole position and being able to lead always makes him tough to run down as he showed on the weekend.
Leading up in the straight 1,000 metres Class Three, he gave the smart Bulb King a run for his money and only went down in the final stride or two.
Millard has beaten the handicapper by running him back so quickly as Keen Flyer is sure to be raised in the ratings for that effort but cannot be penalised for tonight's race.
Sun Power has left Keen Flyer behind in his last two all-weather wins and may still be on the upgrade but after three victories already this season he is climbing quickly up the scale of weights for his success and now has a hefty weight turnaround to overcome from the last time he won and his winning run will come to an end sooner or later.
Perhaps the other big danger to Keen Flyer is the pressure put on him by the only other natural leader in the race, widely-drawn Double Dip (Olivier Doleuze).
The Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained gelding was most impressive in his only win on softer going last season and had excuses thereafter, ending his season with a need for knee surgery in May.
He has had two good trials leading into this and is the only rival who looks quick enough to serve it up to Keen Flyer and probably has few options but to race forward from his draw in 11.
Manfred Man Ka-leung-trained Share The Fun has also been a most consistent runner over the all-weather 1,200m trip and he will pose a threat if the leaders do cut at each other and allow horses to run on from behind.
An interesting subscript to tonight's meeting will be the battle between Howard Cheng Yue-tin and Eddie Lai Wai-ming for the vacant 'local' spot in the International Jockey Championship at Happy Valley next week, which will go to the one with the most wins after the weekend's racing.
The two freelance jockeys are locked in battle for the place with Lai one win clear of Cheng, who represented Hong Kong with honour last year in the IJC, but Lai looks to have the superior chances tonight.
