Hong Kong trainers just cannot get enough of Hugh Bowman.

After Tony Cruz was quick to link Beauty Joy’s chances in Sunday’s feature, the Group Three Celebration Cup (1,400m), to the booking of Bowman, Danny Shum Chap-shing confirmed it is the Australian jockey who holds the key to the exciting Nordic Dragon.

With nine wins from the first four meetings and consecutive trebles, Bowman has momentarily put reigning champion Zac Purton in the shade, and his services are in demand.

The 43-year-old has saluted twice aboard Nordic Dragon and again joins forces with the northern hemisphere four-year-old in the Class Two HKU Foundation Handicap (1,200m).

“[The] key metric is Hugh Bowman. He’s got good hands. He can teach the horse to relax and finish,” Shum said.

“He’s very good, he’s very healthy and he’s trialled very good. [After] the final gallop, Hugh Bowman gave me a very positive report.”

Nordic Dragon chases his fourth straight win on Sunday – Matthew Poon Ming-fai stepped in to help the gelding complete his hat-trick after Bowman’s earlier efforts – but races at Sha Tin for just the second time.

His first appearance at the venue resulted in an eighth-placed finish, but it was also the galloper’s only run over seven furlongs.

“This is the only concern – some concern – but you have to try. His rating is 93, and we don’t have much races in Happy Valley at this stage. I don’t have a lot of options,” Shum said of the decision to race Nordic Dragon at Sha Tin. “I think he’s improving. I don’t know how much, but he’s improving.”

Nordic Dragon has shown versatility across his five wins from eight starts – winning from the front and swooping – but Bowman’s ability to “teach the horse to relax and finish” looks as though it will be called upon from barrier 11 this weekend.

In a race where Master Eight and Computer Patch look likely to ensure a decent speed, Bowman – who finished eighth aboard Lindermann in the Group One Underwood Stakes (1,800m) at Caulfield on Saturday – is likely to find some cover before calling on his mount late.

After his trio of outings at Group One level, Master Eight drops into Class Two company for the first time since 2021, while Computer Patch – who boasts two elite-level seconds – races off a mark in the 80s for the first time since March 2020.

While that pair have well and truly peaked, connections of the likes of Packing Treadmill, Beauty Charge and Flying Ace will be hoping they have more in the locker.

After his nice trial on September 12, Francis Lui Kin-wai’s Packing Treadmill will attempt to recapture something close to what he produced during the electric beginning to his career.

After six wins from his first eight starts, Packing Treadmill started January’s Hong Kong Classic Mile as the favourite but could only manage third, with jockey Zac Purton reporting he “didn’t feel completely comfortable in his action” during the four-year-old feature.

Lui then backed off the son of Manhattan Rain, and his best showing of five subsequent Class Two runs came on the final day of last season, when he finished a neck third behind Golden Express.