Zac Purton has answered John Size's call successfully in one Sha Tin 2,000m race this season and gets the chance to repeat the performance onEnsuring today in the Cheung Sheung Handicap.
When Luger was left without a jockey before the Derby, Size took an unusual turn and booked Purton for his first mount for the yard in three years and the outgoing champion rider got the job done. Getting the job done again today may prove crucial to the outcome of the trainers' championship race.
All races, of course, are crucial as Size and John Moore duel for championship honours but the Class Two staying event has extra meaning to it as both men will send out chances. In recent weeks we have seen Size win races Moore expected to win and vice versa, and there will have been many more occasions throughout the season when that has happened but, as we run down the clock, those are the events that will count.
Size-trained Ensuring is clearly the form horse of the race, stringing together two wins and three seconds from his past five starts, the latest a comfortable success over 2,200m at Happy Valley.
The twist in this tale is that Moore does not have better winning chances than Ensuring, but he does have control of the speed of the race.
Sunny Ying (Derek Leung Ka-chun) and Same World would appear the obvious leading pair, although no-one would expect them to take each other one, and their stablemate Savvy Nature (Neil Callan) gets back in the field from an awkward draw.
Is Moore's best chance to upset Ensuring perhaps the lightly weighted leader Sunny Ying, runner-up to Ensuring at Happy Valley last time out, when he controlled the pace over 2,200m but was overhauled in the last 150m? Did he even stay the 2,200m? If he sets the pace again, it would likely be at a good even tempo as Sunny Ying lacks much dash and is more of a one-paced grinder.
Either way, it's easy to see Purton finding a good spot two wide with a trail on Ensuring and within striking distance of the lead for most of the race. If he brings the form he has shown at Happy Valley to Sha Tin, that should be enough.