Lightly raced five-year-old Taknam might not have much of a galloping action, but the Peter Ng Bik-kuen-trained gelding certainly has been making it work for him and he can add the Po Leung Kuk Centenary Cup (1,800m) to his resume at Sha Tin today.Jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun likened Taknam's galloping gait to that of a cow after his smart first-up win this season, and that is probably a manifestation of the problems which have restricted Taknam to just seven starts since he arrived two years ago.

Lightly raced five-year-old Taknam might not have much of a galloping action, but the Peter Ng Bik-kuen-trained gelding certainly has been making it work for him and he can add the Po Leung Kuk Centenary Cup (1,800m) to his resume at Sha Tin today.

Jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun likened Taknam's galloping gait to that of a cow after his smart first-up win this season, and that is probably a manifestation of the problems which have restricted Taknam to just seven starts since he arrived two years ago.

But the five-year-old has found himself more frequently employed in the last few months and finished last season off with a strong Class Three win at 1,600m, then opened up the same way in September. Taknam was a beaten favourite at his most recent outing at the mile, but the run was full of merit, closing out the race in just over 22 seconds when Percy Jackson was able to just nose him out.

Stepping up to 1,800m should be right up his alley, as he was a winner in England over 2,000m at Newmarket and, if he retains his ability to sprint hard at the finish of the longer trip, then he is the one to beat.

The key to Taknam appears to be leaving him alone to find his rhythm early in his races, and that's why the seventh at Happy Valley in his only attempt at 1,800m should be overlooked.

Taknam was slowly away from gate nine that night, his jockey then bustled him to take a fairly prominent position into the turn out of the straight and the gelding failed to finish the race off.

With probably only Fun Heroes and Tres Magnifique looking for the front, the pace may not be overstrong, but Let's Goal has also been known to press on at this distance and look for a forward position, and an even tempo should be enough to let the backmarkers get into this race.

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