His regular jockey might have jumped ship but that might not be enough to stop the Dennis Yip Chor-hong-trained Generous Heart from winning the Police Cup (1,200m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
Zac Purton has been a fixture on the horse but has switched to the horse who might be the main danger, Great Profit, and Umberto Rispoli takes over on Generous Heart.
The five-year-old has been backed and beaten at a number of recent starts over 1,650m, mostly with Purton on board, but drops back sharply in distance here.
With some horses, that might be an issue but Generous Heart’s best form has all been over this track and distance, including his win in Class Four earlier in the season for Purton.
Crucially, he has drawn a low barrier and that will help him make the adjustment in distance. The pace in the race looks to be sound, with Happy Meteor, California Elite and even Double Valentine all possessing the speed to press forward early and Great Profit was also an on-pace runner in his former career in New Zealand, although a few options have been tested in his trials here.
From the inside alley, Rispoli should be able to position Generous Heart somewhere midfield on the inside and with an energy-saving trip in the smallish field, he will be finishing strongly in the final stages.
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Great Profit showed some promise when he won one of three starts in New Zealand, his two-year-old debut, and performed well at his only runs this season there.
Danny Shum Chap-shing has given Great Profit a very thorough grounding for his local debut, with four barrier trials and they have clearly won Purton over.
He looks capable of winning first time out but there are a few things against him as a three-year-old with 133 pounds to carry against some tough older horses, even if the opposition is not outstanding.
The race doesn’t end with those two and Sir Redalot (Nash Rawiller) also looking one of the dangers.