Super Fortune’s dominant debut win meant Matthew Poon Ming-fai could keep the ride aboard Tony Cruz’s smart speedster but it will count for little else come Sunday’s Class Three Opal Handicap (1,000m) at Sha Tin.

Poon knew he had to get the job done aboard Super Fortune to stay in the saddle and he delivered in spades, spearing the four-year-old to a two and three-quarter length victory as the $1.50 favourite in October.

Sunday’s task looks another thing all together, however, with the Richard Gibson-trained Cordyceps Six in hot form after putting paid to boom speedster Nervous Witness last time out to string together his second straight victory.

“I’m very happy to keep the ride and get another chance to ride him. We can see he has improved by his trials and hopefully he’s fitter and more mature because this time it’s a stronger challenge,” Poon said.

“This race has two or three horses that are pretty strong, two horses that beat Nervous Witness, so hopefully he can handle it.”

The Frankie Lor Fu-chuen-trained Run Run Cool was the other galloper to beat Nervous Witness home in his last run and the five-start Hong Kong maiden tackles the Sha Tin straight for the second time.

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“He looks better now, before in Australia he was a front-runner,” Lor said. “That’s why sometimes I told the jockey that if he jumps well, let him lead or sit second or third but he wasn’t really good and he couldn’t finish.

“That’s why I put him in the 1,000m and asked the jockey to jump and let him relax and then ride him strongly in the last 200m and ask him to finish. His last start was much better.”

Cordyceps Six has the gun draw in gate 14 and Chad Schofield is likely to look for some cover up against the outside rail, while Poon will be hoping Super Fortune jumps as cleanly as he did on debut so he can work his way across into a prominent position from barrier six.

Super Fortune is not the only galloper heading to Sunday’s meeting with a one-from-one record, with Paul O’Sullivan’s Snowalot looking to maintain his unblemished record in the Class Four Garnet Handicap (1,200m).

“He’s done everything OK, his trial the other day was only fair but he’s got a good gate and he’s got a bit of gate speed,” O’Sullivan said of the four-year-old, who jumps from barrier one under Zac Purton.

“There’s no reason why he shouldn’t run very well again, he’s an unspectacular horse but he just goes about his job.”

John Size’s Pins Prince also heads into the weekend off the back of a debut victory and looks to have plenty more to give in the Class Four Onyx Handicap (1,400m), where he will jump from gate six under Joao Moreira.

“He’s feels like a horse that has got a lot of upside. He’s obviously not fully developed yet but there’s nothing like time. He’s a horse that can look around a little bit but race experience will help him with that. So far, he’s done everything right and hopefully he can go on the same way,” the Magic Man said.