Gordon Lord Byron has shown his fitness for his upcoming Hong Kong trip with a racecourse gallop at Dundalk.
The much travelled six-year-old, a Group One winner in Australia in March, will be running at the Hong Kong International meeting on December 14 for the third time.
He has finished fourth in the past two Hong Kong Miles at Sha Tin but this time he will tackle the six-furlong (1200m) Sprint.
Trainer Tom Hogan feels the gelding deserves a crack at the shorter event after he won the George Ryder Stakes in Sydney over 1500m before a close-up sixth behind top sprinter Lankan Rupee in the TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
Gordon Lord Byron was last seen winning the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot last month.
“It all went perfectly at Dundalk. He loves it there, he strode out well and had a little blow afterwards,” Hogan said.
“We might go back there again next Friday just to get him spot on for Hong Kong.
“We’ve decided we will take our chances on the draw and go for the Sprint. His runs in Australia show he is good enough to go for the race.
“The milers in Hong Kong are exceptionally good. We’ve had a couple of goes at the race before and we’ve not had much luck in running and still finished two lengths off the winner.
“We think he’s capable of running a good race in the Sprint and deserves his chance.”
