Joao Moreira revealed that he is “excited” about the upcoming attempt to secure his second Al Quoz Sprint triumph, this time aboard the John Size-trained NZ bred Amazing Kids (Falkirk). The man from Curitiba rates the Hong Kong sprinter among his two best chances of success at tomorrow’s (Saturday, 25 March) fixture.

“It looks like he’s a good chance,” Moreira said. “His form is pretty good against some good horses back home. He’s a very nice horse and John and I have a very high opinion of him. Coming over here with the form that he has, we have the right to be very confident.”

Amazing Kids passed the post a comfortable second to Lucky Bubbles in a 1000m barrier trial (58.79s) down the Sha Tin straight prior to boarding a plane to Dubai. That was 10 days ago and the tune-up clearly pleased Moreira.

“He’s been doing well in Hong Kong,” he said. “His trackwork has been eye-catching, his last barrier trial in Hong Kong, I was extremely happy with him. We’re coming into this race thinking we are a winning chance. I do respect all the other horses in the race but I’m fully confident about the horse I have underneath.”

Amazing Kids is Size’s first runner in Dubai but Moreira is becoming an old hand. Hong Kong’s two-time champion rider landed the Al Quoz Sprint and the Dubai Golden Shaheen three years ago, atop Amber Sky and Sterling City, respectively. He has not added to that Dubai tally during the intervening period.