Frankie Lor Fu-chuen will set Sword Point for next season’s Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m) after the galloper won Saturday’s Class Two Hong Kong Reunification Cup over the same course and distance.

Sent off the $2.6 favourite under Zac Purton, Sword Point was travelling better than any of his 13 rivals as the field entered the straight, but a wall of horses was in his way.

Fortunately for Lor, Purton, Sword Point and financial supporters of this term’s Classic Cup (1,800m) runner-up, a gap between All For St Paul’s and Meaningful Star presented itself 400m from the line, and the market leader zipped through it.

Sword Point ran on strongly to score by one and a quarter lengths from hat-trick hopeful Meaningful Star under Matthew Poon Ming-fai, who edged Hugh Bowman-ridden Butterfield for second place.

“He needed to find room because he had nowhere to go early in the straight,” Lor said of Sword Point, who banked his second HK$1 million bonus since joining the champion trainer from Chris Waller in Australia.

“He still ran about in the straight. Anyway, he won again – it’s good for me and his owner – and next season, I hope he can get into some good races.

“I think 2,000m is his best trip, but Hong Kong has Romantic Warrior. However, horses can hit good or bad form. Anything can happen. Hopefully, we can find suitable races to get him to his peak, then go to the international races. I think he’s up to that level.”

The Hong Kong Reunification Cup was a stop-start affair, with Erimo’s jockey, Antoine Hamelin, setting a fast early pace – the first two sections were much quicker than the Class Two standard times – before a third split that was nearly one and a quarter seconds slower than the 1,200m-800m benchmark for the grade.

“Like a lot of the staying races in Hong Kong recently, it was run at such a muddling tempo it threw everyone’s plans out the window,” Purton said after dismounting his 162nd winner this campaign.

“We were having a really nicely run race, and then they slammed on the brakes and started going slower and slower. It forces everyone to take off, the field bunches, and then everyone got in each other’s way.

“Luckily for me, I was following the right horse, and he brought me into it. I just had to wait for the run, but it’s just becoming really frustrating they can’t go out there and just ride a normal race.

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“I thought it was a very good performance. He had a lot of weight to carry, and he’s had a long season. Frankie did a good job to turn him out the way he did. He drew a good gate, which helped us a lot, but he still had to do it, and he did it well.”

Purton celebrated his 163rd victory this term – he is chasing Joao Moreira’s single-season record of 170 wins, and five meetings are remaining – when Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s Green N White broke through in the Class Four Continuous Development Handicap (1,400m).

Dennis Yip Chor-hong, Bowman, Lor and Purton each had two wins on the public holiday programme, and leading local jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu bagged a treble to improve to 91 victories in his best-ever campaign.