Secret Agent was one of Manfred Man Ka-leung's stable stars last season and, back in the hands of his favourite pilot, he can land the Citi Sprint Challenge Cup (1,200m) at Happy Valley tonight, reports HK Racing Post (www.racing.scmp.com).
The night's trophy event is a wide open affair that is going to be decided by luck and tempo, but the return of Gerald Mosse to Secret Agent looks a real positive at his second run for the term.
On opening day at Sha Tin, Secret Agent drew wide for Eddy Lai Wai-ming, got back in the field and was never really there at all behind Travel Renyi.
Mosse, though, won three of his six rides on Secret Agent last season, the most recent down the straight at Sha Tin in July when the gelding overcame a low draw to win in Class Four.
It was his fourth victory of the season and at different times the five-year-old has looked a likely type to take his winning form up a grade, especially towards the lower end of the weight scale.
Tonight's tempo is tricky, most likely tending towards a standard speed or even slower, with leadersLongwah Amber (Eddy Lai) and Excel Oneself (Richard Fourie) engaged but in the lower half at the start. They will find forward spots quickly and then try to steady the speed as Fourie did when Excel Oneself won two weeks ago.
Whether their rivals are content to let that happens remains to be seen though and Secret Agent is one horse with the speed to go forward and challenge them or to sit back if there is more speed.