Lucky Nine might be Horse of the Year on what he has done already this season, but the gelding can put the title beyond all doubt by winning today's HK$9.8 million Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo - and trainer Caspar Fownes insists his horse can get even better.
Wins in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint on International Day and the Queen's Silver Jubilee in March have the five-year-old poised to take the top honour, and a win today at Fuchu would cap a remarkable season which has included three trips to foreign lands. 'He certainly deserves his crack at the award,' Fownes said. 'It's a hard one to pick, but he has been consistent throughout the year, and that's what you've got to look at. He went close earlier in the season and if he had won one of those, then it would have been two international Group Ones and beyond doubt.'
The trainer was referring to a pair of desperately unlucky early-season runs in Japan, the first a narrow second after weaving through traffic in the Centaur Stakes and then being poleaxed when looming ominously to challenge in the Sprinters Stakes.
Those races were in September and October, and the horse has travelled to Dubai since, racing from 1,000m up to 1,600m.
Fownes has been hampered by his horse's troublesome feet and internal issues, but he says the arduous travel schedule may have been the making of his stable star.
'He is just starting to be a horse really. He has achieved a few good things already but he is a chance to go up a notch in the next season,' Fownes said. 'Ages six and seven are their best years in Hong Kong. They get tougher and he has only had a handful of starts really.