The in-form combination of trainer Caspar Fownes and his former apprentice Vincent Ho Chak-yiu can be counted on to deliver a banker in the last leg of the Triple Trio at Happy Valley with Born To Win.

Fownes and Ho are both in tremendous individual form - the trainer has cleared out in front early in the quest for back-to-back titles with 14 wins, double the total of his nearest rival.

Ho has 11 winners from as many meetings, trailing just Joao Moreira, Zac Purton and Douglas Whyte and is in line to ride at the International Jockeys Championship in December as leading local rider.

But the trainer-jockey combination has been deadly, having combined for seven wins already this season at a strike rate of 35 per cent, and 15 of their 20 runners have finished in the top three.

A better barrier draw and switch back to Happy Valley make Born To Win a solid pick in a weak Class Three handicap over 1,650m.

Born To Win won twice last season, in January and then again in June in the midst of Fownes' championship winning run. Two more placings put the gelding in Class Three, where he started as an import two seasons back.

Even though both of Born To Win's victories were at Sha Tin last term, over 1,200m and 1,400m, he has won over the course and distance and his record at the track is adequate.

It is not so much Born To Win's form or class, just a lack of opposition with much of either that make him the standout. He was a first-up fourth, beaten two lengths at Sha Tin, when pushed to sit handy in a very fast-run race where the swoopers charged over the top of him late.

From gate two he can be close without working for as long. The main dangers are top weight
Holmes Legend (Whyte) and Real Supreme (Matthew Chadwick) and after that the race seems to drop off sharply.

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