My Wish continued his scintillating march towards the Group One Hong Kong Mile with a comfortable success in the Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The Mark Newnham-trained rising star was sent off the raging $1.4 favourite and his backers never had a moment's worry, even with Alexis Badel drawn out in stall 11.

Landing a handy second outside the leader Copartner Prance, Badel always exuded confidence on the five-year-old, who loomed up at the 200m pole and once given an inch of rein, he sauntered clear to win by one and a quarter lengths.

The margin does not tell the full story, with My Wish never truly asked to give his all, and Newnham was full of praise for his pocket rocket.

“This horse has never disappointed us, he’s never run badly in his life but he seems to have gone up another level this season, which he had to,” said Newnham. “He’s coming up into [all-age races] and he has big targets ahead, so with 115lb and the advantage of a run under his belt, he needed to put them away.

“I think his race manners have really improved as he’s matured, so he’s got that good gate speed but [Badel] had to use him a little bit as the inside runners weren’t going to make it easy for him.

“Once he got there, he waited and conserved energy – Alexis did a really good job. He’s had a couple of rides on the horse in the last couple of weeks and just waited for his turn of foot, which he showed and put them away well.

“[Regular jockey] Luke [Ferraris] had a good talk with him beforehand, just about his peculiar habits that he has. He got into that winning position and waited – all those little things count. Horse in form, jockey in form – they got the job done well.

“When I talk about race manners and race craft, just being able to conserve energy and still having that turn of foot is what is going to win him a lot of good races. Early in his career he was using up lots of nervous energy and that takes away from his finish, but he’s now a lot more professional.”

A horse who was rated 52 when arriving in Hong Kong, My Wish has subsequently risen through the grades and he will continue on the well-trodden path towards the Hong Kong Mile in December.

From here, My Wish will now be facing the likes of Voyage Bubble on level weights, but Newnham thinks there is enough in the tank to see him just as competitive as he was in this Group Two romp.

“It’s fairly straightforward from here, November [in the Group Two Jockey Club Mile] and then December,” said Newnham.

“By that stage we’re meeting everyone on level weights, so we’ve got to continue to improve, but he’s doing the job well and I think there’s enough improvement there to see him at that level.”

Copartner Prance, who took the lead straight from the gates, ran an admirable second, while the sprightly nine-year-old Beauty Joy continued to prove age is just a number when flashing into third late.

Although likely needing the run according to trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai, Voyage Bubble’s 12th-placed finish can only go down as a disappointment.

Rushed up by jockey Matthew Poon Ming-fai to try and hold out the eventual winner down the back straight, he was never able to get alongside My Wish and ultimately faded tamely in the straight when asked for maximum effort.

My Wish’s win was the second leg of a double on the card for Newnham, who also struck with the in-form Lucky Sam Gor in the second section of the Class Four Sun Chui Handicap (1,400m).