Contesting Wednesday night's Class 2 sprint is the Paul O'Sullivan-trained Archippus.
The Keeper half-brother to G1 Australian Derby (2400m) winner Tavago looked to have reached his high point in the middle of Class 3 at the start of the 2014/15 season, peaking at that time on a rating of 69. However, the 2013 Hong Kong International Sale graduate has continued to step up and now finds himself on the cusp of triple figures after strong efforts this season at Sha Tin and Happy Valley and on both surfaces.
"He fooled me!" regular rider Zac Purton said. "I thought he would get to 80 points and that would be about his ceiling, but he's just continued to raise the bar. He's racing with a lot of confidence at the moment, he feels like he's a stronger horse. Paul's done a great job with him and there's no reason why he's not going to go out there and be competitive again.
"There was a time there where he was incredibly frustrating because he just used to do so much wrong in his races. He couldn't put it together. These days, though, he's jumping really well, he's putting himself in the right spots. He's still got that tendency to lay out and hang going around the corners, he hasn't quite mastered that, but he's finishing off in great sectionals each start and if you're doing that all the time, you're always going to give yourself a chance." -HKJC
The Keeper half-brother to G1 Australian Derby (2400m) winner Tavago looked to have reached his high point in the middle of Class 3 at the start of the 2014/15 season, peaking at that time on a rating of 69. However, the 2013 Hong Kong International Sale graduate has continued to step up and now finds himself on the cusp of triple figures after strong efforts this season at Sha Tin and Happy Valley and on both surfaces.
"He fooled me!" regular rider Zac Purton said. "I thought he would get to 80 points and that would be about his ceiling, but he's just continued to raise the bar. He's racing with a lot of confidence at the moment, he feels like he's a stronger horse. Paul's done a great job with him and there's no reason why he's not going to go out there and be competitive again.
"There was a time there where he was incredibly frustrating because he just used to do so much wrong in his races. He couldn't put it together. These days, though, he's jumping really well, he's putting himself in the right spots. He's still got that tendency to lay out and hang going around the corners, he hasn't quite mastered that, but he's finishing off in great sectionals each start and if you're doing that all the time, you're always going to give yourself a chance." -HKJC