Dennis Yip Chor-hong's decision to skip the first of the four-year-old features with Brilliant Shine paid off with another tough win yesterday - but don't expect to see the in-form galloper in the BMW Hong Kong Derby, either.

When a four-year-old wins a Class Two handicap at this time of year, no matter the race distance, the Derby looms large on the horizon - particularly a prospect like Brilliant Shine, who has now won four straight.

Speaking after Brilliant Shine's success gave him a riding double, jockey Zac Purton said Yip was adamant the horse wouldn't be pushed too far outside his comfort zone, as shown by trainer's decision to avoid the Classic Mile a week earlier.

"Dennis has just been patient with him and after his last run, he told me he didn't think it would measure up to the Classic Mile. So he decided to back off, given that the horse goes well fresh," Purton said.

And because he isn't thinking Derby, there was no need to go into the four-year-old race, where he might have run a decent race without winning and faced a big handicap penalty."

Aside from whether the horse had the class to measure up to the best of his age group, there was also a query as to whether Brilliant Shine could actually get a mile. "Today was the first time he has felt like he might actually get a mile," Purton said.

Danny Shum Chap-shing gave Purton his first winner of the day, albeit a narrow one, with Presidentparamount, who has failed to live up to expectations in two runs since running a big race on debut back in November.

"He is very raw, he has an engine but he just hasn't put it together yet," Purton said of the four-year-old after his maiden win over 1,400m.

"Even though he won, I thought he was disappointing, and after his work during the week I thought he would win much easier than that. With the run he had, I thought he should have run away and won by a couple of lengths.

"Even though he is more tractable now, nothing is going to happen quickly with him and he seems to need all the time in the world to learn things. He will get over more ground eventually, and at least he has won a race now and that's out of the way."