Lightly-raced six-year-old Gurus Dream has been yet another star

Lightly raced six-year-old Gurus Dream has been yet another star of the Dennis Yip Chor-hong stable this season and he can add another trophy to the trainer's cabinet in the ATV Cup (1,600m) at Sha Tin today, reports the HK Racing Post.

It says: A long injury break after falling last year doesn't seem to have done Gurus Dream (Douglas Whyte) any harm, with the gelding returning as a stronger, confident horse.

Naturally, he didn't come straight back to winning ways off that enforced break, but after two nonetheless eye-catching performances in short sprints, Gurus Dream was ready when he stepped up to 1,400m in Class Two in February.

He towelled a handy field in strong times before continuing on with the job, rising to Class One in March over the same trip and disposing of Rich Tapestry.

The runner-up has proved that form with a Group Two success in the meantime and that looks strong form for this event, where Gurus Dream carries virtually the same weight.

Is the extra distance an issue? Well, because his career has had the interruptions it has had, Yip has never been able to fully explore Gurus Dream before. This is the first time he'll have even a fifth run in a campaign, so the stamina aspect has to be answered but he has been strong at 1,400m.

Gurus Dream shapes to get an ideal trip, as the meat in a sandwich of forward and back groups. Many of the runners are regular backmarkers, and then there are Hot Shot, Leading City and Penglai Xianzi who reliably will go forward. And then there's Gurus Dream as really the only runner who does neither but likes to sit behind the speed and that chemistry should make it the right place to be.

That all said, it's a competitive affair and topweight Zaidan (Gerald Mosse) gives an interesting flavour to the race, coming back down from Group One competition to a Class One for the first time in quite some time.

The five-year-old is also having only his second run for Tony Cruz, his first a moderate performance in the Audemars Piguet QE II Cup when sent forward from a wide gate - a tactic which has proved unsuitable for Zaidan in the past and nothing changed in that regard.

He hasn't won this season but has raced well in the elite class and 12 months ago Zaidan was in Singapore running second at international level.