Half of Tommy Berry's winners in an impressive first stint have come in trophy races of various levels, and the Australian jockey has the horse to do it again in the Cricket Club Valley Stakes...

Half of Tommy Berry's winners in an impressive first stint have come in trophy races of various levels, and the Australian jockey has the horse to do it again in the Cricket Club Valley Stakes (1,200m) at Happy Valley tonight, even if he doesn't have the draw, reports the HK Racing Post.

Berry takes over from indisposed Zac Purton on the Tony Millard-trained Golden Harvest in the night's Class Three feature and, from gate 11, he'll be needing to produce something similar to Purton's brilliant ride on the four-year-old last start.

There's no doubting Golden Harvest is the one to beat. He looked handy in three early starts before a mid-season break and a gelding operation saw him resume as an even better prospect.

Purton gave him one of the rides of the season from a nine draw, crossing neatly in the early stages to put Golden Harvest in the one-out, one-back position after 300 metres. That allowed the gelding a soft trip before launching at the 250m and he won with his head on his chest.

That ride sets the bar high for Berry, drawn two gates wider, and he may have to go further back to get in, but what he has in his favour is the likely solid pace.

Precision King, Regency Champion (Terry Wong Chi-wai), Mi Savvy, Ensemble, Nordic One, Joyful The Great and Ride On The Fire all like to lead or race forward and they will be pushing into the first turn to get position, even if one or two elect not to lead.

That should give Golden Harvest something to run at, providing he can save energy earlier in the race.