Nine years after playing a key role in Aerovelocity’s famous win in Japan, Pierre Ng Pang-chi is back in the Land of the Rising Sun chasing Group One glory in his own name with Mugen in Sunday’s Sprinters Stakes (1,200m) at Nakayama.

Ng was Paul O’Sullivan’s assistant trainer when stable star Aerovelocity created history by becoming the first overseas-trained horse to win the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1,200m) at Chukyo racecourse in 2015.

Now in his third season training in his own right, 41-year-old Ng has his sights firmly set on bagging the first Group One triumph of his career.

“I’ve always wanted to travel a horse and try achieve success in an overseas race and that’s the motivation for us,” Ng said.

“It’s always good when you get the opportunity to race under your own name, wearing your own uniform. It would mean a lot compared to [being] an assistant.”

The son of former Hong Kong trainer Peter Ng Bik-kuen, Ng also spent time in Japan working under trainer Takayuki Yasuda and studied Japanese culture at the University of New South Wales.

The ambitious handler has made an immediate impact in his brief training career, fighting out last season’s premiership before being beaten by another of his former bosses, Francis Lui Kin-wai, by a solitary win.

Ng has already campaigned horses overseas, travelling to South Korea and Dubai, but he feels Mugen is primed to give him his best shot at an elite-level win on Sunday.

Mugen emerged as a prominent force for the stable with four wins last season, highlighted by his Group Three Premier Cup (1,400m) victory, while he also ran third in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m).

“I think he really did well towards the end of [last] season,” Ng said.

“He ran third in a Group One, he won on his last run and the owners really wanted to send a horse back to Japan, which they have previously.”

Mugen’s owners, the Infinitude Syndicate, raced Blizzard, who ran fifth in the Sprinters Stakes in 2017 and Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2018.

Ng couldn’t be happier with Mugen and said the son of Deep Field will have no problems handling a potentially wet track at Nakayama.

“He seems fit enough and he’s happy. He looks quite ready to me,” Ng said.

“The horse has had the experience with a wet track before, towards the end of last season in the Group One race in April, so I wouldn’t be scared of him handling the track.”

Karis Teetan will ride Mugen, who bids to join Silent Witness (2005) and Ultra Fantasy (2010) as Hong Kong-trained winners of the Sprinters Stakes.

Danny Shum Chap-shing’s consistent sprinter, Victor The Winner, joins Mugen in the capacity field of 16.

Rising local star Satono Reve is tipped to be hard to beat. He has won seven of nine starts ahead of his first crack at a Group One.

“Overall, he’s in good condition and he’s been showing plenty of speed in his training,” trainer Noriyuki Hori said. “Jockey Damian Lane says everything’s fine with the horse.”

Lane gave up rides in Australia over the weekend and used a full month of Japan Racing Association short-term licence eligibility for a single day to ride Satono Reve.

The top Australian jockey booted home Satono Reve in the Group Three Keeneland Cup (1,200m) at Sapporo in August.

The Sprinters Stakes is one of eight Nakayama races to be simulcast by the Jockey Club on Sunday. Four races from Santa Anita Park racecourse in America will also be beamed live into Hong Kong on Sunday morning.