Big Orange has arrived safely in Hong Kong ahead of his next big-race mission at Sha Tin on Sunday week.

Trainer Michael Bell reports the five-year-old gelding "fit as a fiddle" after the long flight from Australia to the Far East.

Big Orange finished 10th in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 1 and had another taste of Australian racing 11 days later, when third in a Group Two over a mile and a half at Sandown.

The son of Duke Of Marmalade will now step back up to the top table for the valuable Hong Kong Vase, in which he will be ridden by Damian Lane, who was in the plate at Sandown.

Bell said: "He arrived on Monday and lost six kilos on the flight from Australia.

"The flight went well and we are very happy with him.

"He will have light exercise, and then he will have a canter on Thursday.

"He's a horse who has had two runs in a relatively short space of time, so we won't be breaking any land-speed records with him in his work.

"He's as fit as a fiddle so it will just be a case of freshening him up."