It’s long been known the lure of the BMW Hong Kong Derby can make owners do funny things.

Growing up with a trainer for a father and through his near decade as an assistant to Paul O’Sullivan, John Size and then Francis Lui Kin-wai, Pierre Ng Pang-chi would have seen it time and time again.

Now, though, in his second season as a handler in his own right, he’s experiencing the phenomenon first-hand as Galaxy Patch’s owner Yeung Kin-man makes a push for the city’s most prestigious race.

After watching his galloper run second in Sunday’s Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m), Yeung paid the HK$260,000 late entry for the Derby on Monday.

No one can blame Yeung for wanting to run in the Derby after finding a horse of Galaxy Patch’s class.

The son of Wandjina certainly wouldn’t be the first Hong Kong sprinter to run well over an extended distance against his own age, but the decision goes against a lot of what Ng has said throughout his charge’s first season.

When explaining why connections ultimately aborted an on-again, off-again Classic Mile run, Ng said stepping up to 1,600m 22 days after winning a Class Two over 1,200m was simply too much.

“It’s a big jump from 1,200m to a mile and we were running out of time,” Ng told the Post in January. “We didn’t buy the horse for any Classic Mile or four-year-old series run, so we’d much prefer to keep him sprinting.

“The owner made the decision. A couple of days after the last win, he thought Galaxy Patch was going to run [in the Classic Mile], but then he said the horse isn’t going to run, so we decided against it.”

What Galaxy Patch will do now, should nothing change, will make stepping up from 1,200m to a mile with over three weeks between runs look rather conventional.

Fifth over 1,000m on March 3, Galaxy Patch’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup second came in his first run over further than six furlongs and in March 24’s Derby he’ll be tackling 2,000m.

While winning a Derby three weeks after running over 1,000m would surely be breaking new ground in Hong Kong, Galaxy Patch does exhibit some similarities to the last horse to swoop in and snare the feature without running in the other Classic Series legs.

While the past five Derby winners – Voyage Bubble, Romantic Warrior, Sky Darci, Golden Sixty and Furore – all ran in the Classic Mile and Classic Cup, 2018 victor Ping Hai Star snared the riches after running over 1,400m two weekends earlier, just like Galaxy Patch will attempt to do.

The move to take such a path with Galaxy Patch certainly sent a curveball the way of jockey Karis Teetan, who has been in the saddle for all eight of Galaxy Patch’s runs.

While the Mauritian has decided to stick with Star Mac for the Derby after partnering him to third in the Classic Mile and fourth in the Classic Cup, he’s one who wouldn’t be surprised to see a big showing from Galaxy Patch.

“It’s all about switching him off. I don’t know how he’s going to switch off over the 2,000m, of course it’s going to be hard, but let’s see,” Teetan said.

Galaxy Patch’s connections to pay HK$260,000 late entry fee for HK Derby

“The big question mark is that he only tried the 1,400m on Sunday and the 2,000m is going to be a different story. But whatever they throw at him, he handles pretty well. He’s a tough horse and he’s got lots of ability.”

Teetan pointed to Galaxy Patch’s “bright future in Hong Kong” and Ng seems far more interested in what his galloper can achieve long term, but for now the trainer is going to have to embrace the unconventional and hope his potential superstar comes out the other side the same horse.

Plans, of course, could change again before the final Derby field is confirmed on Thursday. The HK$260,000 late entry fee, after all, is not even 10 per cent of what Galaxy Patch pocketed for connections on Sunday and is merely a drop in the ocean for Yeung, a billionaire whose company Biel Crystal Manufactory supplies phone screens to Apple and Samsung.