Lucky Nine sent out a Hong Kong Sprint warning with a classy victory in Sunday's G2 Jockey Club Sprint at Sha Tin.
The performance sets Lucky Nines up for a tilt at a second successive win in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint back at the course and distance on December 9.
Caspar Fownes' charge, having his first start since a brave but unfortunate fifth in September's G1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan, travelled strongly into the stretch under Brett Prebble and kicked to the lead under hands and heels with 200m to go.
The jockey only had to resort to the whip twice close home to keep at bay the late-closing John Moore-trained runner-up Time After Time.
“It's always hard when we come back from Japan – the horses tend to lose their coats and go off the boil a little bit.
"He did the same again this year but he wasn't as bad as last season. I felt he was just starting to come and today I reckon I had him about 85%, so there's quite a bit of improvement there for the big day.
“Brett gave him a good run, he was jogging on the corner and I think his condition gave out the last 50m but he was good enough to win it.
"It was a good run by the second horse but in saying that I feel in the next three weeks Lucky Nine's going to really come on for this run, and he has a great record third up so I'm looking forward to December 9.
"He was a little bit off in his coat and there's nothing like a race to bring on a horse's coat.
“He's one of the top horses in Hong Kong and I knew even at 85% he was going to be right there today. I said to Brett, under no circumstances should he punish him so he's going to come on a lot from that.”
Prebble was delighted with the horse, who scored by a head from the slow starting Time After Time in a time of 1m 08.83s with Moore's Admiration a further three quarters of a length away in third.
“He came into the race lovely and gave me a really good feel,” revealed Prebble. “He just dragged me up to the furlong pole and when I let him down he gave me a nice kick.
"In the last 50m he was found wanting a bit and he'll come on from that. Caspar hasn't squeezed him right up with the big one coming up in December so he's really put his hand up to be the major player for Hong Kong in the Sprint again.”
Singapore raider Super Easy tracked the pace but was out-speeded in the final stages as he crossed the line three and a half lengths away in sixth, while Hong Kong's top-rated sprinter, the G1 King's Stand Stakes hero Little Bridge was unable to land a blow as he finished ninth of the 14 runners.
