He set tongues wagging with an extraordinary Hong Kong debut, but Mid Winter Wind needs to back that up at Sha Tin on Sunday to convince Mark Newnham he is worthy of a Classic Cup (1,800m) start.

A four-time winner in South Africa up to Group Three level, Mid Winter Wind made a spectacular start to his Hong Kong career with a barnstorming 1,200m victory at the Lunar New Year meeting.

Despite starting a $42.25 chance, the four-year-old overcame traffic in the straight to run down Sunny Da Best from near last, recording a stunning final 400m of 21.72 seconds.

While the performance didn’t come as a complete shock to Newnham, the Australian handler is wary of how difficult it will be to reproduce that effort second up while rising to 1,600m for the Class Two Heung Yee Kuk Cup.

“Stepping up from 1,200m to a mile is never easy, but he did have a good grounding going into [his first run], including a 1,600m trial,” Newnham said.

“I did expect him to run very well, but I wasn’t sure he had that in him first time out. We just need him to produce that again.

“What I would say is the risk with that is sometimes horses that put in a peak performance first up can be a little flat second up.

“Everything he’s done since that, there’s no indication that he would, but it’s one of those things you don’t find out until you run them.”

Newnham views Sunday’s race as the acid test to determine whether Mid Winter Wind joins Classic Mile-winning stablemate My Wish in the next leg of the four-year-old series.

“Sunday’s race will tell us,” Newnham said.

“I expect him to run well, but he’s probably got to run top three to warrant going up in distance again and that’s the query.

“His South African form was certainly at the shorter trips but he’s a more mature horse now.

“He relaxed well the other day in his race and if he does that again on Sunday, there’s every chance he can go further.”

Mid Winter Wind jumps from barrier four with the in-form Luke Ferraris again on board.

His opposition includes last-start Class Two winner Sunlight Power, Karma and fellow Classic Series hopes Mickley, Johannes Brahms and Romantic Thor.

In the midst of a successful second season with 26 wins, Newnham also has high hopes for Midori Giant, Excellence Value and Crimson Flash on Sunday.

“Midori Giant will improve greatly with blinkers on. He went really well the other day,” Newnham said of the Australian import, who backs up from an eye-catching fourth behind Californiatotality last Sunday.

“Excellence Value also produced a good last split the other day. He’s up to a more suitable trip with blinkers on. Crimson Flash is there as well, so I’ve got some good, promising horses in on Sunday.”