The speed map for Sunday’s Group Three Premier Plate (1,800m) presents an opportunity for in-form jockey Lyle Hewitson and on-pace galloper Beluga to combine for their first Group wins in Hong Kong.

Only Zac Purton (18) has ridden more winners in the past 30 days than Hewitson (10), but the South African jockey has yet to celebrate anything higher than a Class Two victory from his 1,161 starts in the city.

Beluga, the two-time Class One winner from David Hall’s flying stable – the Australian trainer’s yard has scored back-to-back hat-tricks – teams up with Hewitson in the second of Sunday’s two black-type events, one that is low on speed and quality.

Apart from Packing Award – and he has only done it once – Beluga is the solitary Premier Plate runner who has set the pace in the early stages of a Hong Kong race contested over no more than 1,800m.

The scarcity of natural leaders in the Premier Plate field has caught the attention of Hewitson, fifth in this season’s jockeys’ championship on 46 victories.

“There’s only one horse, Packing Award, who’s got a bit of speed, but of course, he’s coming to Sha Tin, so we’ll have to see how he goes about it,” Hewitson said of Beluga’s seven Premier Plate opponents.

“Beluga, stepping up to 1,800m, possesses good gate speed. He could be the pace influence. Nonetheless, it’s about him being in his comfort zone.

“He’s got a good weight – it’s a nice race with the handicap terms – and he’s a consistent, honest horse.”

Hewitson’s book of six rides on Sunday includes a comeback galloper on whom he has won three times, Douglas Whyte-prepared sprinter Dragon’s Luck.

The Class Three Lapis Lazuli Handicap (1,200m) will be Dragon’s Luck’s first competitive outing since he bled from both nostrils after finishing ninth under Hugh Bowman over the same course and distance on March 11.

“He’s come back in as good form as he was prior to his setback,” Hewitson said of Dragon’s Luck. “He’s moving really well. He’s settled down a little bit too, which is a bonus. He’s matured from a mental perspective.

Size of gap between leader and chaser may be too big to breach after Sunday

“Ideally, we’d like to lead. He enjoys it out there and he’s strong off the front, but there’s one or two others with speed who could cause problems.

“We’ll have to ride him according to his comfort zone. We know he has a small issue, so we can’t press the envelope more than he can handle.

“We’ll take it as it comes. Plan A would be to get out in front, but if we have to go to Plan B, we’ll do that.”