GROUP RACING ON THE TABLE FOR IMPROVING MUGEN AFTER SHA TIN MILE ASSIGNMENT
- Hugh Bowman hops aboard Pierre Ng's galloper for the first time in Sunday's Class Two United Alumni Handicap (1,600m)
Trainers' championship leader Pierre Ng Pang-chi hopes Mugen can take another step towards Group company when the exciting galloper has his first taste of Sha Tin's 1,600m trip on Sunday.
A three-time winner from five starts this season, Mugen will take on six rivals in the Class Two United Alumni Handicap (1,600m) with Hugh Bowman in the saddle.
Mugen was unable to justify a short price in the Class One Chinese New Year Cup (1,400m) under regular jockey Karis Teetan, but Ng believes calling upon the services of Bowman can pay dividends over the extended distance.
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"Connections wanted to try him over further and see how he stays so hopefully, with the hands of Bowman, he can settle well and have a good run," Ng said.
The son of Deep Field failed to land a blow in his two starts after arriving from Australia last term but resumed with a half-length 1,200m win at Class Three level off a mark of 63.
Following a commanding success in his next appearance in December, Mugen showed his customary turn of foot to snatch third in his final start at Class Three level on New Year's Day.
The five-year-old returned to winning ways when upped to 1,400m at the end of January, flying home from the rear of the field to score by two lengths in a competitive Class Two field.
Ng recently compared Mugen's impressive change of gear to that of last week's Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) runner-up Galaxy Patch, and the handler is hoping the 95-rated galloper can use his key attribute over this weekend's trip.
"Running over 1,600m is a trial for him," Ng said. "He handled the 1,400m well so hopefully he can switch off in the early part of the race and wait for the last 400m.
"We'll test him out over the mile and if it doesn't work, we can always drop him back. We just have to wait and see how he goes this weekend and then hopefully we can look at some Group races later on. There's a 1,400m race next month that's a possibility."
Bowman has not been a regular rider for Ng and the trainer-jockey combination is yet to return a winner since the second-season handler took out his licence.
Mugen will aim to make it 16th time lucky for the partnership and marks the first of two rides Bowman takes for the stable.
The Ng-trained Turin Starspangled will make his debut under Bowman in the final race of the day, the Class Three Morningside And S.H. Ho Alumni Handicap (1,200m).
Turin Starspangled was a winner on one of his four starts in Ireland and Ng believes the three-year-old may be better over further in future.
"He's been trialling well. He doesn't look like he's a sprinter but we thought we'd give him a warm-up run and step him up later in the season."
Ng saddles 10 runners on Sunday's programme in his bid to extend the 10-win lead he holds over Francis Lui Kin-wai at the summit of the championship.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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2024-03-28T05:23:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd
