Jamie Richards will pin his faith on champion jockey Zac Purton and Bulb General’s talent when the four-year-old series prospect chases a third straight victory at Sha Tin on Saturday.

Fresh from a sensational win at the season-opening meeting last month, Bulb General has been hit with a wide draw in barrier 12 and a 7lb rise on his last start for the Class Three Tung Lung Chau Handicap (1,200m).

However, Richards is confident the son of Embellish has the ability to settle back from the gate and mow down his rivals late, as he showed in his scintillating triumph at the end of last term.

“Unfortunately the barrier draw hasn’t been very kind to us, but we’ll leave that up to Zac and see how we get on,” the Kiwi handler said.

“I don’t think it should be too much of a problem depending on the pace of the race, but it looks like we’ll have to ride him a bit conservative early and be strong late.

“He seems to be a nice horse and he’s going well. He’s not much of a morning trackworker or much of a trial horse, but we’ve just got to trust that he turns up on race day.”

After an eye-catching third on debut in February, Bulb General needed surgery for a bout of colic, but he returned in a blaze of glory to score by two and a half lengths from gate 11 in July.

He again lived up to lofty expectations last month when sitting closer to the speed from barrier eight en route to a one-and-a-half-length triumph.

Despite the lure of the Classic Mile and other four-year-old series features in early 2026, Richards has opted to give Bulb General another run at 1,200m.

“I just think he won so well over 1,200m, we didn’t want to change too much while they’re winning, so we’ll just give him another 1,200m on Saturday and then maybe step him up after that,” Richards said.

Richards will have representation in another of Saturday’s Class Three events, The Association Of Hong Kong Racing Journalists 40th Anniversary Cup (1,000m), with The All Out.

An impressive winner of his two Griffin starts up the straight last term, the three-year-old reopposes Metro Power after running fifth to the dominant winner first up.

“He’s a young horse. He’s just probably finding it a little bit difficult as a three-year-old against some more hardened horses and it’s an extended Class Three, so you’ve got a couple of Class Two horses dropping back in,” said Richards, who opened his campaign with five winners in September.

“His latest trial was good. I just wanted to make sure we kept up the work to him and the cheek pieces are going on, so I’m expecting him to run well. But it’s a difficult field and I’ve got a lot of respect for the opposition.”

Karis Teetan will again ride The All Out, who jumps from barrier four in a competitive sprint that also features last-start winners We Are Hero, Whizz Kid and Packing Bole.

Lahore is another solid chance for Richards on Saturday, but the three-time placegetter has also been hit with a wide draw in 11 for the Class Four South Bay Handicap (1,200m).

“He’s on the quick back up just so that Zac could ride him again,” Richards said of the four-year-old, who ran on for third behind Flowing Riches over 1,000m last Sunday.

“But again, he’s drawn awkward so we’ll just ride him patiently. When we went forward at the Valley it didn’t work for him, so we’ll just ride him a bit quiet and give him a chance to finish off.

“Zac’s been of the opinion that he’s been looking for further for some time, so we’ll try it on Saturday.”