The formidable John Size-Zac Purton combination snared more feature-race success at Sha Tin on Monday, taking out the Class One Chinese New Year Cup (1,400m) with Red Lion.

Cast in the unfamiliar role of underdogs when the stalls opened for the Chinese New Year Cup as Red Lion played second fiddle in the betting to $1.2 favourite Mugen, the pair found themselves in the winner’s enclosure regardless after their game five-year-old produced a gutsy display to fight off the market leader after an exciting battle down the straight.

Size was delighted with Red Lion’s first victory of the season after a sparkling campaign last term.

“He’s been a good horse,” Size said. “He won four races last season and he’s done a fantastic job to come back on a reasonably high mark and win another race.

“He fought like a lion. We’ll see what happens to his rating and try to place him in another one he can go close in.”

Purton got first run on Karis Teetan and Mugen, who had every chance but could not pass the winner, eventually going down by a neck.

“He just had the right run,” Purton said. “There were some horses that were well out of form and not well placed in that race. It was really a race in two. I had to carry the weight compared to the young, progressive horse.

“It was a good battle and they both had their chance to win. I thought at the 150m, he had me when he was breathing down on me like that but maybe being a little older, more seasoned, a bit tougher was probably the telling factor in the end.”

Both jockey and trainer doubled up on the afternoon, with Size’s brace coming courtesy of Howdeepisyourlove, who returned just eight days after finishing eighth in the Classic Mile to win the Class Two Yue Yee Handicap (1,200m)

“He made the adaption back to the shorter distance immediately,” Size said. “It didn’t work out trying to get him to run a bit further – he’s not interested – and he confirmed that today.

“We all like to think that they can go up a level, so we’ll dream and see what happens. [Jockey] Brenton [Avdulla] did a great job and that was the same as the previous win for [Tony] Cruz’s horse [California Voce].”

Purton had earlier been successful when favourite Ka Ying Rising saluted in the Class Three Prosperity Handicap (1,200m) after being forced to fight by outsider Lady’s Choice.

“It’s a bit of a leader bias today and he had to come off the pace,” said Ka Ying Rising’s trainer David Hayes.

“I think he’s got a good future over a bit longer because he’s just losing his pace a bit now.”

Hayes already has his sights set on next season and is mapping out plans for the son of Shamexpress, who notched a deserved victory after two narrow losses to Wunderbar.

Hayes saddles one of his ‘nicer teams of progressive horses’ since HK return

“We’ll see how he pulls up because I’d like to get his rating up a little bit more,” Hayes said.

“That means we can train him for the bigger races next season and we can cruise. I might give him a bit of a break. He’s had three hard runs in a row so we are in no rush.

“I think he’s got an action of a 1,400m horse. I think I’ll freshen him up a bit, come back for a sprint then go up to 1,400m.”