Group One goals could be on the agenda for Hong Lok Golf next season after the exciting galloper continued his rapid rise with a successful Happy Valley debut on Wednesday night.

Sent off the $2.8 favourite for the Class Two Cheung Sha Handicap (1,650m), Hong Lok Golf settled sixth and worked into the race when Harry Bentley made his move on the turn.

As the $3.5 second favourite Soleil Fighter shot to the lead early in the straight, Steps Ahead launched a determined challenge to hit the front at the 100m.

But it was Hong Lok Golf who dug deep when it counted most, lifting down the centre of the track to edge Steps Ahead by a short head. Soleil Fighter was close behind in third.

Hong Lok Golf added to his reputation as a rising star of Hong Kong racing with his sixth win from seven starts. The Chris So Wai-yin-trained gelding should arguably be unbeaten, with a luckless second to Righteous Arion at Sha Tin in February his only defeat.

“I was worried about coming to Happy Valley for the first time, but I thought the horse could be flexible – he can lead, sit off the pace or come from behind - so it was worth the try,” said So.

“Every time he gives you a surprise - he’s such a tough horse and never gives up, he always hits the line strongly. I hope he can be a Group One horse in time.

“I don’t think we’ll go for the Group Three [Premier Plate] next week, there is a [Class One] mile race on July 13 at Sha Tin that we can maybe look at, but we’ll see how he pulls up and what the owner thinks.”

Bentley, who has been aboard Hong Lok Golf in all seven starts, labelled the four-year-old “a jockey’s dream”.

“This horse is just so tough and he really goes to the well,” Bentley said.

“The pace was a bit sedate, perhaps, for him early on. We got a lovely run through following Steps Ahead but the straight here is a bit on the short side for him and it blunts his staying power, where Sha Tin really suits him with the long straight.

“Chris and his team have done a really good job in keeping him in tip-top shape until now.”

A day after celebrating his 33rd birthday, Bentley notched a Valley double after also striking on Jimmy Ting Koon-ho’s Smiling Emperor in the Class Five Tai Wo Ping Handicap (1,650m).

Elsewhere on Wednesday night, Caspar Fownes extended his lead in the unofficial Valley trainers’ championship with a race-to-race double courtesy of Autumn Delight and Capital Delight.

Autumn Delight broke through at start six, capitalising on a dream run just off the speed from gate four to claim the second section of the Class Four Tai Hang Tung Handicap (1,200m) under Andrea Atzeni.

“It’s nice when you can get a result with horses that have a lot of problems,” Fownes said of the four-year-old, who was struck down by a tendon injury last year.

“The owners have been very patient and now they’re starting to get the rewards. I think this horse hopefully will improve and win another race before the season finishes.”

Capital Delight successfully backed up from a closing second a week earlier to score a barnstorming triumph in the Class Four Tai Kok Tsui Handicap (1,650m) for in-form apprentice Ellis Wong Chi-wang, who has booted home eight winners since the start of May.

Known as “the King of the Valley”, Fownes has recorded 25 wins at the city circuit this term. Mark Newnham is his nearest rival with 22.

Karis Teetan also chimed in with a brace aboard Smart City and Definitive.