from RACING POST HKThe Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Happy Valley specialist Happy Guys is weighted to make a winning entry to the new season in tonight's competitive Ireland Trophy (1,650m), despite the lack of a recent race. The son of Keeper was a revelation at the city course last season, winning three in a row in impressive style before he had a tough run from a wide draw at his most recent appearance on July 6. Particularly eye catching was his 1,800m win in April, when the gelding carried a
from RACING POST HK
The Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Happy Valley specialist Happy Guys is weighted to make a winning entry to the new season in tonight's competitive Ireland Trophy (1,650m), despite the lack of a recent race. The son of Keeper was a revelation at the city course last season, winning three in a row in impressive style before he had a tough run from a wide draw at his most recent appearance on July 6.
Particularly eye catching was his 1,800m win in April, when the gelding carried a big weight and ran terrific times in rain-affected conditions to score by more than five lengths.
He has run decent races fresh in the past without troubling the placegetters but those were also at Sha Tin, where he is not quite as effective despite three placings there.
Happy Guys has looked a star at the quirky Valley circuit and, crucially for this race, is strong at the end of the 1,650m, while two of his major rivals in Familists (Brett Prebble) and Flying Supreme (Mark Du Plessis) probably don't want to go any further than that.
Trainer Caspar Fownes presents a strong hand at the city course where he is king, saddling up the major danger in Flying Supreme as well as another leading hopeful in Mark Up (Olivier Doleuze).
Fownes has played a support role in the season to date, with his only winner the 100-1 blowout on opening day, Victory Mascot, but that isn't to say his horses haven't run well and he shapes to move to the front of the class at this meeting. (www.racing.scmp.com)