A trip to Japan for an audacious Group One Yasuda Kinen (1,600m) tilt is gaining momentum after Lucky Sweynesse took care of business in the Group Two Sprint Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin.

After planting the first seeds of a possible trip abroad after Lucky Sweynesse’s Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1,4,00m) victory last month, trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung was more definite when outlining his sprinter’s plans on Sunday afternoon.

“I think, at this moment, we’ll enter June in Tokyo, and then I’ll need to discuss it with the owner. Maybe [we will go], I’ll discuss with the owner first,” Man said of a possible run in the Yasuda Kinen, which would be Lucky Sweynesse’s first attempt at a mile.

“I think [he can show the same quality over 1,600m] because in his last run over 1,400m he ran very well. He took a sit and showed us his dash,” the veteran trainer added of his four-year-old, who is undefeated in three starts over seven furlongs.

First, though, is an attempt at pocketing the HK$5 million bonus for sweeping the Hong Kong Speed Series by adding victory in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m) on April 30 to his recent wins in the Centenary Sprint Cup and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.

After stretching his winning streak to four and landing his sixth success of the season in the Sprint Cup, Lucky Sweynesse could not be heading to the Chairman’s Sprint Prize in better order.

But it was not all plain sailing for connections and the punters who backed Lucky Sweynesse into $1.20, with the sprinter slow away before settling third behind leader Master Eight and his main rival, Wellington.

“It’s not a nice feeling sitting on him in the gates because he gets it wrong sometimes – I knew he was going to get it wrong today,” jockey Zac Purton said.

“He wouldn’t focus. He was moving around too much. It’s just him. He wouldn’t look at the gates.

“I was still in the spot I thought I would be, but I’d prefer to be there travelling rather than having to fight for the spot.”

It was a simple enough watch for his backers from there on, with Lucky Sweynesse travelling into the race nicely before peeling off a 21.74-second final 400m in a contest that was run about nine lengths outside standard for the first 800m.

“For the first half of the race, it worked out well, but then when they backed the speed off and bunched coming to the corner, I had to come out and let him stride. But he was always going to win,” Purton said. “Once we got to where I was at the 1,000m, I thought it was all over.”

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Lucky Sweynesse beat four-time Group One winner Wellington by a length after claiming Richard Gibson’s galloper at the 200m, while Master Eight stuck on for third.

Sent off the $5.8 second elect by punters who believed he could defend his Sprint Cup crown, Wellington ran just about as well as connections could have hoped ahead of his attempt at a hat-trick of Chairman’s Sprint Prize victories.

By running Lucky Sweynesse to a length, it was the closest Wellington had finished to the city’s new sprint king in their three meetings since Gibson’s charge won the Group One Hong Kong Sprint and Man’s galloper had to settle for a held-up sixth.