Reigning champion trainer Frankie Lor Fu-chuen agrees with outspoken retired jockey Shane Dye that last month’s Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) may have been the one that got away from Sword Point ahead of the four-year-old galloper’s return to action on Sunday.

In his “Genius Or Slaughter?” segment on The Triple Trio podcast the week following the Derby, three-time Hong Kong jockeys’ championship runner-up Dye said of Hugh Bowman’s steer of Sword Point: “This was a slaughter. This probably should’ve won the race.

“He should’ve gone up and around when [Sword Point] was pulling, and he wins the race for sure. He had a chance when he got into the back [straight] to go. I’m sure Hughie went home that night thinking ‘I wish I had that ride over again’. If he goes at the 1,400m, up and around, outside the leader or leads, he wins.”

Lor is not a definitive as Dye, who rode more Hong Kong winners than any jockey except Douglas Whyte in the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, but he admits this year’s edition of the city’s most prestigious race was a missed opportunity for him and Bowman to register their second Derby success together.

“Sometimes, we don’t know how it feels to the jockey, but for me, at the turn, moving [Sword Point] out would’ve been better,” Lor said about Bowman’s ride aboard the Derby’s sixth placegetter.

“I was a jockey a long time ago, so I know what they’re thinking. Sometimes, you miss a chance to maybe make the whole race turn out differently.”

Lor, who rode 27 Hong Kong winners before switching from riding to training, saddles nine runners at Sha Tin this weekend, with Sword Point one of his yard’s two starters in the Class Two Wan Chai Gap Handicap (1,800m) that rounds out the 10-race programme.

In addition to Sword Point – who returns to the course and distance of his two-and-three-quarter-length Class Three victory and half-length Classic Cup second, both under Bowman – six-year-old stayer Looking Great represents Lor’s powerful stable.

Despite Dye’s criticism, Bowman retains the ride aboard Sword Point, while Derek Leung Ka-chun reunites with Looking Great after not partnering him in any of his past 18 races.

The Wan Chai Gap Handicap features four Derby runners – Straight Arron (fifth), Sword Point (sixth), Sweet Encounter (seventh) and Beautyverse (12th) – as well as three last-start winners in the shape of Spirited Express, Champion Dragon and Alacrity. Making up the field for Sunday’s finale are Butterfield, Savvy Nine, Turin Redsun, Bourbonaire and Looking Great.

Two Lor-trained gallopers have chances to post back-to-back victories on Sha Tin’s all-weather track, with Youthful Deal contesting the Class Three Kowloon Cricket Club Centenary Cup (1,200m) and Hava Nageela going around in the Class Three D’Aguilar Peak Handicap (1,650m).

Youthful Deal carries one pound more than hat-trick scorer Adefill in the Kowloon Cricket Club Centenary Cup, but Hava Nageela looks well placed to build on his breakthrough Hong Kong triumph last month.

Lor’s rationale for entering Hava Nageela in one of the meeting’s four all-weather events is simple.

“Last start, he won on the dirt, so I leave him on the dirt. I want him to win again for his owners,” said Lor, who trails John Size by seven and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai by two in this term’s trainers’ championship with 25 meetings remaining.