It didn't take Richard Gibson long to get a good tune out of recent stable acquisition Take To The Limit and the five-year-old looks placed to run boldly again despite a grade rise in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy (2,200m) today at Sha Tin, reports the Racing Post HK (www.racing.scmp.com).

As a two- and three-year-old in France, Take To The Limit (Ben So Tik-hung) won four of his eight starts, three of those wins in Listed races, and was tried against Group company including a final start fifth behind Moonlight Cloud.

He probably was not an ideal purchase for Hong Kong, where he was going to strike firm ground and a dearth of staying races and he took time to acclimatise.

There was one glimpse of something in May last year, though, when Take To The Limit did some work through the first half of a race at Happy Valley over 1,800m and was only run down by Formula Won in the final stages.

He had struggled again since returning this season until a shift of yard from Sean Woods to Richard Gibson in February. Gibson looks not only to have got the horse going, but got him at the right time as well - with the tracks turning a little kinder, with a further drop in rating and with some available staying races.

After a nice enough effort finishing midfield over 1,600m at his first outing for the yard, Take To The Limit ran on strongly over 2,200m in Class Three last week to win under 129 pounds. He closed out that race in a 22.39 second final 400m - a decent sectional to produce at the finish of a staying distance - and Gibson has not hesitated to bring him back to the races again today with a suitable opportunity.

That's usually a good indication of how a horse has done in the stable after his last run and probably speaks to some intent too, as a win today would put Take To The Limit into contention for the Queen Mother Memorial Cup early next month.

Today, Take To The Limit drops to a very light weight and the little bit of rain hovering around at present won't hurt his prospects either.

His danger looks John Moore-trained Savvy Nature (Douglas Whyte), who was not overimpressive taking a Class Two cup race at Happy Valley last time out, but he got it done.

Savvy Nature does keep grinding away in the manner of a real stayer so the additional 400m is right up his alley today.

It remains to be seen if the distance is too far for Mr Gnocchi (Vincent Ho Chak-yiu) but he has been racing very well without quite winning one and deserves a change of luck.