Young Emperor and Romantic Son clash for a second time at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (13 November) in the HK$1.86 million Class 3 Fung Mo Handicap (1200m), with the latter seeking payback after he was overhauled as a well-fancied favourite last month.
In that race it was Young Emperor who powered to victory from draw eight as an unfancied 41/1 chance for trainer David Eustace and an in-form Luke Ferraris. The 22-year-old South African ace has nine wins from 76 rides this season and is aiming to extend the three-year-old son of Holy Roman Emperor’s record to a perfect two-for-two in Hong Kong.
“I thought it was a really good win. It caught everyone a bit by surprise, so that’s always a good thing. He’s got a similar barrier this time round (nine), but he’s showing us that he does have a pretty lethal turn of foot and I think he can get a similar run in transit,” Ferraris said.
Young Emperor dons the black, white and red silks of the HKJC Racing Club Limited. He was previously trained by James Stack in Ireland, where he won at Naas under his former name Eclipse Emerald.
The 74-rating Young Emperor carries an added nine pounds this week (123lb to 132lb), while Romantic Son breaks from barrier three with 124lb on his back (up from 120lb on debut) in the form of leading rider Zac Purton for dual Hong Kong Champion Trainer (1997/98 & 1998/99) David Hayes.
“Romantic Son looks like an exciting horse and he definitely looks the part – he looks really nice,” Ferraris said. “We’re up in weight now, too. I think it’ll probably come down to the run that we get in transit, if he can get a smooth passage and something to pull him into the contest then it should be an exciting finish.”