Champion jockey Zac Purton will miss Wednesday's Happy Valley meeting after a follow-up medical procedure to his kidney stone complaint but says he will be back this Saturday at Sha Tin.
Purton was struck down with kidney stones two Sundays ago, missing a feature race meeting, and had been riding with a stent in his kidney since then.
After riding through obvious discomfort at last Sunday's Champions Mile meeting and pushing through eight barrier trials on Tuesday morning, the Australian later sought medical attention and will forego six rides at the Valley.
"I had to have the stent removed - it would usually stay in 14 days but it was irritating me and giving me a lot of discomfort," Purton said.
"I wanted it out as quickly as possible, and that meant today [Tuesday] and didn't allow me to ride at this meeting. I'll be right for the weekend.
"There aren't any kidney stones any more, it was just the stent that was bothering me."
Among the horses Purton trialled was Singapore-bound sprinter Aerovelocity, the jockey climbing aboard the Paul O'Sullivan-trained six-year-old for the first time since winning the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen in Japan last month.
Aerovelocity won his 1,200m dirt trial easily and ran home his last 400m in a swift 21.3 seconds.
"He felt really good. He has come back from Japan in good order and he gave me a great feel," Purton said.
On Tuesday, Aerovelocity was confirmed as one of three Hong Kong-trained sprinters entered for the KrisFlyer International Sprint along with Rich Tapestry and Lucky Nine, who will be aiming for three straight wins in the S$1 million (HK$5.82 million) event.
In the Singapore Airlines International Cup, Hong Kong will be represented by the last two winners of the race with Dan Excel and Military Attack taking on three fellow foreign entrants.
French-trained pair Smoking Sun and Free Port Lux will be joined by Japanese Derby placegetter Meiner Frost for the S$3 million feature.
The five Hong Kong-trained horses will depart on the same flight early on Saturday morning.
