Raise a Cheer for Purton and Ricky Yiu to win

– The Rotary Centenary Challenge Cup is the feature event at Happy Valley this week and Ricky Yiu and Zac Purton can land the prize with Cheer Win.

This son of Showcasing has been running well in defeat on his last few outings, without much luck.

Part of the cause for his defeat last time was the steady tempo in conjunction with some patient tactics from a high draw. Purton should find himself a lot handier in the run on this occasion from gate two and that being the case, with even luck on the C+3 course, he should prove hard to beat.

One of the main danger comes from Never Better who is performing consistently at this level, but rarely wins. If he can slot in to a position not too far from the leaders from gate six then he is definitely good enough to prove highly competitive.

The likely leader, Buddy Bundy will probably prove harder to catch with the rail in the outermost position and if the track if favouring those on the lead, or on-pace, then his chances have to be upgraded. Of the remainder, Showing Character is bidding for a hat trick and although up in grade, still warrants respect.

One of the better bets on the card is in the final event with Cheerful Boy making plenty of appeal. The booking of Joao Moreira is worth noting and his effort when setting a suicidal tempo on his last outing was highly creditable. If the ‘magic man’ can get him to just settle a touch, or race more generously through the middle stages then he will prove very hard to beat.

And Moreira has a sound chance in the third race, the Kwai Chung Handicap with G-One Lover. The speedy son of Magnus has hit the frame on his last three outings without a win, but is knocking on the door and this time it has a good chance of being opened. It is a thin race with regard to chances and with one of the main threats in Game Of Fun also drawn high, he should prove hard to hold out. Either way, Game Of Fun, to be ridden by Purton, and G-One Lover look the obvious form horses and the Swinger may be the preferred option.

And on a night where Moreira has an excellent book of rides, which is more than often the case, he could easily take out the fourth race with Caspar Fownes’ Imperial Seal who is bidding for his third successive victory. The son of Dylan Thomas looks quite well treated in the handicap for his eightpoint penalty on his last victory and the simple reality is this event is no stronger than what he last faced. In addition, he has proven he can be effective when lumping similar weights and should bring Moreira closer to the century of wins for the season.