Trainer John Moore looks to have found the key to Hit A Home Run and the gelding is ready to strike when he next appears.
On the weekend, Hit A Home was stepping out for the seventh time, but a change of tactics to being ridden cold in his last two runs has seen him hitting the line with plenty of purpose.
Two starts back over 1,400m, the three-year-old was quietly ridden by Weichong Marwing from gate five. He travelled sweetly and, once turning for home, let down strongly to finish fourth to Glacier Blue.
Cutting back further in distances for his latest run and with Jackie Tong Chi-kit called in to make the 113 pounds weight, Hit A Home Run was shunned by punters at 31-1 odds.
He was snagged back to settle one off the rails and third from the rear from gate 12, came off the bridle while swinging the final bend with one further out and ran on willingly, despite a tendency to lay in under the whip, to take fourth behind Regency Champion, with the final 400m in a swift 22.21.
Hit A Home Run is a son of Danzero and the unraced Kenmare mare Alpine Spirit. Danzero's claim to fame as a racehorse was a success in the Group One Golden Slipper Stakes and has been an influential sire of 25 winners in Hong Kong over a sprint-to-mile distances.
Alpine Spirit is a half-sister to Schubert, who was a Group Two winner in Australia over a mile and three times successful locally, including the Group Three Chinese Club Challenge Cup over 1,200m. She's had two winning foals in Pinezero and the retired Dennis Yip Chor-hong performer Wealthy (by Danehill), who raced up the grades for seven wins up to a mile.
