A better draw can help Regency Ho Ho notch his first winner of the season and help new jockey Andrea Atzeni do the same in the middle leg of tomorrow night's Triple Trio at Happy Valley.
After finishing no worse than third in five runs last season and winning his way into Class Three for trainer Benno Yung Tin-pang, Regency Ho Ho put in a somewhat disappointing performance up the straight first-up.
Stepping up to 1,200m and switching to the Valley, the son of Falkirk drew gate nine and never got on the track, racing three wide with no cover for Joao Moreira and sticking on fairly to finish seventh - three lengths away from the winner Apollo Cavalier.
Even though tomorrow night is Atzeni's first look at the course, Regency Ho Ho importantly made it around the tricky track last start, even if he was sitting wide. Barrier three is perfect, from where he can cross to the rail without any speed beneath him and then slot behind the pace.
It is a competitive Class Three with plenty of depth, and even though it will take a fair training performance from Manfred Man Ka-leung, Victory Heart could easily return from a long lay-off a winner.
The five-year-old has not raced since being desperately unlucky in an eventful 1,400m race at Sha Tin in late December, in which he started a 3.9 second favourite, but after which he pulled up with a tendon injury.
Since then he has trialled twice, and the form from the Class Three he contested has since stacked up. All five of the horses that finished ahead of him that day - Sichuan Exec, Principal, Flame Hero, Jazzy Feeling and Holmes Legend - have since won multiple races.
Victory Heart probably will be better for the run, and perhaps needs 1,400m, but could run a race fresh. He will be ridden by Gerald Mosse, who has ridden five winners for Man from just 13 starts this term.
Of the others, Victorius was hitting the line hard last start and this time gets a much better draw and can be a touch closer in the run. The John Size-trained six-year-old also meets Choice Treasure (Mirco Demuro) four pounds better at the weights for a three-quarter length last-start defeat and has won second-up before.
Choice Treasure will end up back in Class Two at some point, and has to go in, along with King Derby(Vincent Ho Chak-yiu), Incredible Fellow (Matthew Chadwick) and Longwah Amber (Douglas Whyte) - even though a terrible draw means he will be forced to work hard from the most unforgiving starting position in Hong Kong racing.
With so many winning hopes in the second leg, keep selections skinny in the opening leg, a moderate looking Class Four over 1,650m.
Danny Shum Chap-shing goes to blinkers first-up on Jolly Good Star (Derek Leung Ka-chun), who has drawn well in two. Jolly Good Star was finding his mark late last term, and even though his trials looked less than impressive he should be fit enough for this. (www.racing.scmp.com)