Wednesday at Happy Valley was a trade meeting with little in the way of promising horses to follow so maybe it is the turn of two old stagers to become black bookers.

The Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Flying Tourbillon has been a reliable force in Class Three, with three wins and six other first four finishes in his 20 attempts and there was enough in his eighth behind Perpetual Joyance to suggest the rising seven-year-old will improve on that yet.

Flying Tourbillon last won off a rating of 73 in September last year and spent most of the time going in and out of Class Two. Twice he dropped to Class Three and ran a placing that pushed him back up again. As a result, his rating bobbed along in a range of 81 to 86 where he needs too much to go right for him to win.

On Wednesday, back to Class Three and a rating of 79, a wide barrier looked a serious impediment to Flying Tourbillon and so it proved.

‘King’ Caspar Fownes finds form with a Happy Valley treble

Jockey Umberto Rispoli took him back to the rear rather than race wide and when the leaders accelerated mid-race, Flying Tourbillon was left behind.

Nevertheless, he gathered himself up and ran home strongly, registering the fastest final 400m sprint of the night, showing he is in good form, even if his finishing position did not reflect that.

The handicapper has dropped him another two points and, from a better draw, Flying Tourbillon should be able to make an impact soon.

Another old Valley stalwart getting closer to turning his form around is Ten Flames from the Peter Ho Leung yard.

Stewards held over until Sunday the questioning of apprentice Dylan Mo Hin-tung about his riding of the seven-year-old in the final race but, whatever they decide, it was a performance that showed Ten Flames is in form.

Mo took him back to the rear of the field from a wide gate and stayed there until the final push for home before Ten Flames also posted a strong final sprint.

A five-time Happy Valley winner, Ten Flames, like Flying Tourbillon, is not done with just yet.