The Gold Challenge as a Grade 1 weight-for-age event favours the best horse. Thirteen of the last nineteen renewals (from 2003) have been won by a horse ranked in the top three merit ratings. That record indicates that one of Jet Dark, Linebacker, Al Muthana or MK’s Pride is the most likely winner.

I would expect that the pace will be decent as horses likely to contest or make the pace are drawn wide, MK’s Pride at 12 and Supreme Warrior at 10, and will need to overcome those draws. Crown Towers at draw 6 is also a likely pacemaker but he tends to make his own pace more sedately, congruent with his lower rating.

The biggest improvers in a race such as this are likely the two three-year-olds, with Supreme Warrior the more likely to step up and give the older rivals a stern contest. However, only 2 three-year-olds have won this race in the last 19 renewals, with the exceptional Variety Club being one of those.

If there is a result outside the top three merit rated horses, that appears to lie with either Silver Operator, who was an impressive winner in the Drill Hall, or Russian Rock, who was just nosed in the same race.

Jet Dark is by far the best miler in the country and all things being equal he should win if fit and with a mind to get the job done. Twelve of the past nineteen winners were also four-year-olds and as such Jet Dark ticks the most boxes.

Picture: Jet Dark winning the HKJC World Pool Champions Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville last year.