Young Emperor and Romantic Son clash for a second time at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (13 November) in the HK$1.86 million Class 3 Fung Mo Handicap (1200m), with the latter seeking payback after he was overhauled as a well-fancied favourite last month.
In that race it was Young Emperor who powered to victory from draw eight as an unfancied 41/1 chance for trainer David Eustace and an in-form Luke Ferraris. The 22-year-old South African ace has nine wins from 76 rides this season and is aiming to extend the three-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor's record to a perfect two-for-two in Hong Kong.
"I thought it was a really good win. It caught everyone a bit by surprise, so that's always a good thing. He's got a similar barrier this time round (nine), but he's showing us that he does have a pretty lethal turn of foot and I think he can get a similar run in transit," Ferraris said.
Young Emperor dons the black, white and red silks of the HKJC Racing Club Limited. He was previously trained by James Stack in Ireland, where he won at Naas under his former name Eclipse Emerald.
The 74-rating Young Emperor carries an added nine pounds this week (123lb to 132lb), while Romantic Son breaks from barrier three with 124lb on his back (up from 120lb on debut) in the form of leading rider Zac Purton for dual Hong Kong Champion Trainer (1997/98 & 1998/99) David Hayes.
"Romantic Son looks like an exciting horse and he definitely looks the part – he looks really nice," Ferraris said. "We're up in weight now, too. I think it'll probably come down to the run that we get in transit, if he can get a smooth passage and something to pull him into the contest then it should be an exciting finish."
Sugar Sugar (135lb), Eason (127lb), Gustosisimo (127lb), Prawns Eleven (127lb), Denfield (124lb), Golden Empire (124lb), Happy United (123lb), Sovereign Fund (121lb), Our Lucky Glory (120lb) and Sky Forever (119lb) round out the hotly contested finale at the city circuit.
"If there's a genuine pace on then there's no reason why he can't improve from his first run to now and he should be finishing the same way," Ferraris said.
With 92 career wins in the city, Ferraris is the youngest rider on the Hong Kong jockeys' roster. The son of David Ferraris – winner of 461 races in Hong Kong including the 2005 Hong Kong Derby (2000m) with Vengeance Of Rain – Luke is eyeing more momentum as the season advances.
"The strike rate is good and it was good to get a couple of those horses home early on who came as a bit of a surprise. I'm starting to generate a bit of momentum now, so I really need to keep capitalising on decent rides then hopefully we can just keep turning it over," he said.
Leading the title race comfortably with 35 wins. Purton's 1,775 overall in Hong Kong has him positioned only 39 away from surpassing Douglas Whyte's all-time record for wins in Hong Kong (1,813).
The Australian reunites with debut winner Triumphant More in the second section of the Class 4 Lei Yue Mun Handicap (1200m) for trainer Frankie Lor tomorrow.
"He had to fight for it a little bit. He wasn't the cleanest from the gate and he had to do a little bit of work to get a position and then he didn't really know what he was doing.
"He was on and off the bit, hanging in and hanging out, then he had his head up at one stage. It just never felt like he was in a rhythm at all but he still got the job done, so hopefully that bodes well for him going forward," Purton said.
Purton also partners Palace Pal, Lucky Touch, Hakka Radiance, Ma Comet, Masterofmyuniverse, Circuit Duffy and Fighting Machine at the Valley tomorrow night.
Wednesday's (13 November) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley commences at 6.40pm with the Class 5 Ngau Chi Wan Handicap (2200m).
