Superstar Englishman Ryan Moore will ride Ensued in next month’s Classic Cup (1,800m), with trainer John Size confirming his leading Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) hope is on track for the second leg of the four-year-old series.

A three-time winner from five Hong Kong starts, Ensued has shown all of his staying qualities to reign supreme under the guidance of three different riders.

While Zac Purton, Brenton Avdulla and Karis Teetan have all tasted success aboard the son of Lemon Drop Kid, it is the gun Briton who has been called upon by the legendary trainer for March 3’s Classic Cup.

Moore, who teamed up with Size to steer Sun Jewellery to a narrow success in the Classic Cup eight years ago, has enjoyed plenty of top-level success in the city and will hunt for a second victory in the contest when he reunites with Ensued.

Ensued placed on two of his three outings for James Fanshawe in the United Kingdom, finishing his career there with a runner-up effort under Moore over 1,600m at Kempton in April last year.

After recently taking out January’s Group One Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (1,800m) with a masterful ride aboard Warm Heart, who finished third in December’s Group One Hong Kong Vase (2,400m), Moore will aim to continue his globe-trotting domination aboard Ensued.

“Ensued is good, Ryan will ride in the Classic Cup and we’ll take it one step at a time from there,” Size said. “He likes his racing, he’s got a very good temperament, and he does everything pretty easily.”

After getting off the mark at the first time of asking in the city over 1,800m in October, Ensued relished the step up to 2,000m to take out another Class Three contest at Sha Tin.

A luckless eighth when stepping back to 1,800m on his next start on December 10, Ensued bounced back to form under Teetan to claim the Class Two Yan Chai Trophy (2,000m) a fortnight later.

The improving youngster battled on once again over 2,000m to finish a neck behind surprise winner Natural Storm, who saluted at $55 in Class Two company on January 21.

Joining Ensued in the second leg of the Classic Series will be another progressive galloper, with Ricky Yiu Poon-fai confirming Simply Maverick will step up in distance after three dominant wins at Happy Valley.

Winless from his first four outings, Simply Maverick brushed his rivals aside to stretch to a four-and-three-quarter-length triumph over the city circuit’s extended mile on December 6.

After Simply Maverick found plenty of trouble when a fast-finishing third two weeks later, the son of Sebring recorded a comfortable two-length win before taking out a Class Three contest at the end of January in convincing style.

Meanwhile, Romantic Warrior had a hit-out under Hugh Bowman in a 1,600m turf trial at Sha Tin on Tuesday morning.

The son of Acclamation moved well to breeze past the winning post in first, with his sights firmly set on the Group One Gold Cup (2,000m) on February 25.

Russian Emperor, who will jet off to Qatar for his H.H. The Amir Trophy (2,400m) defence on Friday, cruised home in the same trial to finish third.