CALIFORNIA ARCHER is yet to win a race locally but his effort when second to subsequent winner Telecom Brothers had a fair bit of merit to it and this looks a good opportunity for him to post his first Hong Kong win. There simply isn’t much depth to this race and a positive ride should see him fighting out the finish. DIAMOND DRAGON ran a decent seventh behind Styling City beaten 2¼ lengths, with the latter going on to win again, as did Racing Fighter out of race 184. Diamond Dragon doesn’t have a great racing pattern however and will need to be picking a path late. Speaking of Styling City, HAPPY VICTORY makes his Hong Kong debut having run alongside the aforementioned horse for much of a Sha Tin 1000m trial. Happy Victory beat a New Zealand Group 1 winner (Embellish) when he debuted as a two-year-old there and has shown some ability. I would prefer to see him, but any market moves following his parade might be telling. I AM POWER hasn’t competed since mid-October but he performed quite well at his only Hong Kong start on the all-weather and he seems to have some ability based on a trial seven weeks ago. SHINING GEM (Run Naan ex. McEvoy in Australia) makes his debut in Hong Kong and the Group 3 winner has looked okay in work but will derive benefit from the run I’m sure. CALIFORNIA ARCHER is the horse to beat here though.