Few winners at Happy Valley this season have been as impressive as the Tony Millard-trained Genuine Leader and the five-year-old looks ready to take his next step up the ladder in the Japan Racing Association Trophy (1,200m) tonight, says the Racing Post HK.The son of a Hong Kong Vase runner-up in Ekraar, Genuine Leader (Zac Purton) has a lot more speed than his sire and scored his second win over the Valley 1,200m last month. He was coming off a seven-month break, but Genuine Leader had been we

Few winners at Happy Valley this season have been as impressive as the Tony Millard-trained Genuine Leader and the five-year-old looks ready to take his next step up the ladder in the Japan Racing Association Trophy (1,200m) tonight, says the Racing Post HK.

The son of a Hong Kong Vase runner-up in Ekraar, Genuine Leader (Zac Purton) has a lot more speed than his sire and scored his second win over the Valley 1,200m last month. He was coming off a seven-month break, but Genuine Leader had been well-prepped and was sent out favourite in the modest Class Four.

Always on the speed, Genuine Leader never looked like being beaten and sizzled down the straight in a sub-23 finishing section for the second straight time. There wasn't a great deal behind him that day, with veteran Team Work taking the runner-up spot, but it was the way that Genuine Leader put his rivals away under 132 pounds that really impressed, with Richard Fourie having the luxury of sitting up over the final stages of the race.

Genuine Leader certainly had plenty in hand over his Class Four opposition, and that augurs well for his ascent into Class Three for the first time.

We go back to the dreaded "C+3" Valley rail for the first time this season but handy and closer to the rail is no disadvantage on the narrowest course.
From gate four, Genuine Leader should be right on the pace from the start and poised to challenge for the front whenever Purton wants to press the button. For dangers, he has two other fairly lightly raced gallopers in Gamekeepers (Douglas Whyte) and Cape Canaveral (Matt Chadwick).

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