Ricky Yiu Poon-fai finally turned a run of placings into a winner when Jolly Brilliant resumed in style at the top of Class 4 over the Sha Tin mile on Sunday, but attention quickly turned to stable star Voyage Bubble.
Yiu came into the meeting with two wins for the season and had run second twice on the card before Jolly Brilliant made it three, and the trainer was soon looking ahead to next Monday's Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy (1,600 meters).
Voyage Bubble, a six-time Group 1 winner with more than HK$132 million in prizemoney, will trial over 1,200m at Conghua on Monday morning, and Yiu is pleased with the eight-year-old's preparation.
"He's doing really fine," Yiu said, confirming that Jerry Chau Chun-lok will ride in the Group 2 handicap. "We look forward to seeing how he can perform this season because he's eight now, just turned eight. Fingers crossed. But at the moment, I'm really happy with his training and what he has shown us.
"We'll just take it race by race with him."
Voyage Bubble is also up against history, because no eight-year-old has won the Sha Tin Trophy since it was first run in 1997, and the oldest winner remains Packing Winner, who was seven when he won for Peter Ho Leung in 2009.
Voyage Bubble's record fresh is another obstacle for the Deep Field gelding. He is winless in five first-up runs, including a second to Galaxy Patch in this race in 2024 and a 12th behind My Wish last year, when he carried 135 pounds.
He will again carry top weight against a strong field, with Mark Newnham saddling both My Wish and Invincible Ibis. The rejuvenated Galaxy Patch, now with Brett Crawford, also lines up.
Voyage Bubble has won the Hong Kong Mile twice, the Stewards' Cup twice, the Hong Kong Gold Cup and then the Champions & Chater Cup as part of the first Triple Crown in more than 30 years. He landed his second Hong Kong Mile last December before his form tapered, finishing third, fifth, third and fifth through the back half of the season.
Chau, who rode him in his last two starts, keeps the ride after Zac Purton partnered him through most of last season. Purton is booked to ride My Wish.
Jolly Brilliant, meanwhile, gave Yiu a winner he hopes can climb higher. The New Zealand-bred four-year-old won his last start of last season under Hugh Bowman in July and picked up where he left off under Andrea Atzeni, making it two wins from nine starts.
"Yeah, he's got a good fighting heart," Yiu said. "The draw helped a lot, although it's not easy. He's running for the first time this season, and considering the weight he's carrying, but like I said, he had a great fighting heart. And the jockey Andrea Atzeni said he had a beautiful ride on him."
Asked whether the gelding would step up in distance, Yiu was confident he would get further in time.
"I would think so, yeah. Well, he's by Ocean Park, they get a mile-plus," he said.
"Well, he's one of those relaxed sort of horses, so hopefully he can stay a mile, 1,800, even further."
