Buoyed by Moments In Time’s barnstorming second last start, Hugh Bowman is adamant the former Chilean Group One winner is poised to strike in Wednesday night’s Group Three January Cup (1,800m) at Happy Valley.

The gun Australian jockey believes a tactical change helped bring the best out of Moments In Time on December 4, with the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained gelding running on powerfully from last to finish a neck second to stablemate Chill Chibi at the January Cup course and distance.

A pre-import Group One winner over 2,000m when known as Racatan, the son of Lookin At Lucky has raced predominantly on the speed in Hong Kong.

He won back-to-back races at the Valley last season before setting the pace and holding on for fourths in the Group Three Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2,400m) and Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) at Sha Tin.

“I was delighted with his performance last start at Happy Valley and he’s a very consistent horse,” Bowman said.

“He’s had a bit of a mixture of distances and classes to contend with over the last 12 or 18 months, but I truly think he finds a race he can feature in.

“He put the writing on the wall last time – I rode him a bit differently from a wider draw [barrier 10]. I just thought I’d try switch him off because he’s a very competitive individual.

“Even in his work, he really wants to get on with it and I just took a bit of action out of the barriers and settled him. I didn’t mean to get quite as far back as I did, but when [Stunning Peach] jumped the crossing or whatever it did at the 200m mark on the first lap, it sort of took us out of the race a little bit.

“If he can come out of that race on an upward spiral, he’s certainly well placed here.”

Bowman hopes to be slightly closer in running from barrier six on Wednesday night, while he feels Moments In Time will relish dropping 10 pounds to carry 125.

“The race appears to set up so that I might be able to take up a more handy position, but I think it’s vital that I do make a point of switching him off in the early stages to get the best out of him,” Bowman said.

“He inevitably carries the top weight or close to it against these class horses, but with [Happy Together] in there it pushes him down to the middle of the weight scale, which is going to assist him when I ask him to go.”

Happy Together will carry top weight of 135 pounds in his bid for back-to-back January Cup triumphs.

Shum will also be represented in the feature by Helene Feeling, a three-time Valley winner including once at 1,800m.

Harry Bentley will ride the Sioux Nation gelding, who jumps from barrier nine.

David Hayes hopes his consistent galloper Star Contact can make an impact off a light weight, with Lyle Hewitson likely to ride him a pound over his allotted weight of 115.

The Star Turn gelding recorded his fourth career win at the Valley to start his campaign and comes off a pair of fourths, one behind Chill Chibi at the city circuit and last start behind Bravehearts at Sha Tin.

“He showed last start that he’s handling the upper class races and he always gives himself a nice run in transit, so he’ll race on the pace,” Hayes said.

“We’ll see if he can handle the open class – it’s a Class One race, so with a light weight, you never know. It helps, doesn’t it? Last start he ran fourth in the book, but he probably should have run third or second.”