The connections of champion sprinter Sacred Kingdom believe the veteran can capture a third Hong Kong Sprint, despite an unorthodox preparation and an unconvincing barrier trial at Sha Tin yesterday.
The four-time Hong Kong Sprinter of the Year, who won the international sprint in 2007 and 2009, will go into this year's feature on December 11 coming off a 10-week break and having raced just once in the last six months.
Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai cited the eight-year-old's ageing legs as the reason for the light preparation and yesterday jockey Zac Purton gave the gelding his final serious hit-out in a 1,000m turf trial.
Sacred Kingdom ambled through his heat in the unaccustomed role of pacemaker against a mostly inexperienced field, holding off Class One winner Fat Choy Oohlala by a quarter length in a time of 59.41 second, his final two 400m splits in 22.9 and 22.1.
Yiu said Sacred Kingdom had not been sent out to break records and was content with his horse's sparse race schedule.
'He is an eight-year-old and there is not really much you can ask for,' he said. 'He was laid-back, it was a weak field and the sectional time in the first 400m was a bit too slow. He jumped well and did his own thing and when the jockey asked him, he responded.'
Purton said the lack of speed in the trial meant Sacred Kingdom had to be ridden against his normal run-on pattern.
