The top four horses in the BMW Hong Kong Derby market must negotiate Sha Tin’s tricky 2,000m start from double-figure gates, with Thursday’s barrier draw at Sha Tin adding even further intrigue to the city’s most prestigious race.

Long-time favourite Helios Express, who is looking to join Rapper Dragon and Golden Sixty in sweeping the Classic Series after wins in the Classic Mile and Classic Cup (1,800m), will jump from gate 13 under Hugh Bowman, while stablemate Ensued – considered a $9 chance in overseas fixed-odds markets – and his jockey Ryan Moore have been lumped with barrier 12.

“I’ll have to have a look at the race, see what the jocks think and try and work it out. They haven’t done me any favours,” said three-time Derby winning trainer John Size.

Size confirmed Helios Express, who missed some work last week after suffering a hoof infection, was fine and “looked good” in a gallop on Thursday morning.

A last-start Group One placegetter over 1,400m, Galaxy Patch ($4.8) has the outside alley of 14 for his first assignment at further than seven furlongs.

Out of the same gate from which Voyage Bubble won last year’s Derby from the back under Alexis Badel, jockey Blake Shinn will be looking to keep Galaxy Patch as relaxed as possible before allowing him to thunder home.

Massive Sovereign exploded into Derby calculations with victory on Hong Kong debut earlier this month, launching from behind midfield to romp home, and jockey Zac Purton is likely to look for a similar run from gate 10 this weekend.

“The draw is OK. For my horse, it is no problem. I am very comfortable. I’ll let Zac work it out,” trainer Dennis Yip Chor-hong said of his $7 chance.

Danny Shum Chap-shing’s Helene Feeling also drew wide, with star Kiwi rider James McDonald having barrier 11 to contend with, while David Hayes-trained backmarker Star Mac drew gate one.

Helene Feeling’s stablemate, Chill Chibi (three), Elliptical (two) for Caspar Fownes and Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s Ka Ying Generation (four) were among the others to walk away with inside alleys.

Like Massive Sovereign, the impeccably bred Unbelievable began his career under the tutelage of Aidan O’Brien. Forgotten in the market at $41, Unbelievable was a luckless eighth in the Classic Cup and jockey Harry Bentley is hopeful he can be a Derby player from gate eight.

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“It’s a bit of a no-man’s-land draw but hopefully there should be a bit of pace on with some interesting horses drawn quite wide,” he said.

“Now the draws are out, it puts a different spin on things and it’s going to bring a few things into play. People from those wide draws will want to secure nice positions but then not want to light their horses up too much.

“You want to get sorted as quick as you can going into the first bend, get your position and then hope the gallop is not too slow, especially for my horse, who is a real stayer.”