Voyage Bubble came closest to dethroning Golden Sixty in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) and his trainer Ricky Yiu is optimistic his stable star can again threaten the champion in his bid for a record-extending fourth G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin.

The five-year-old landed his first top-level success over the race’s course and distance in the G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) in January, when he had Sunday’s rivals Beauty Joy and Beauty Eternal in arrears, before an excellent neck second to Romantic Warrior in the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m).

Sent off a 7/1 chance for the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) against a galaxy of international stars at Meydan last time, Yiu has excused him for beating just three rivals home, having been boxed in at a crucial stage and suffering interference late on.

“He got back from Dubai pretty safely,” Yiu said. “He never had a race because he had too good a draw in one and couldn’t get a run in the straight, he pulled up fine. He just got a scratch on his right hind when the horse fell next to him.

“We’re just keeping him ticking over. He seems to be enjoying himself back home. There was a slight setback when he arrived here, he lost his appetite a little bit, and we took his blood and found his muscle enzymes were up, but a week later he was back to normal.”

Voyage Bubble will be reunited with James McDonald, who partnered him to his career-best success in January, and the pair is well-positioned for the rematch with Golden Sixty having drawn barrier six at the official ceremony on Thursday.

Yiu said: “I would expect him to run very well on Sunday. I think there’s a bit of improvement in him, he hasn’t been overly raced and he’s only five. He’s been a good second to a couple of champions in Hong Kong, so I expect him to run well again. But then again, I’m not sure how the weather is going to be.

“I think if it was a normal soft track he could handle it. If it rained heavily during the day it would be a different story. There doesn’t look to be a lot of speed in the beginning. Most likely we’ll leave him where he is happy, which is in the first two or three.”

Yiu will be hoping to down another champion later on in the card as he fields the highly admirable Nimble Nimbus, who finished a place behind his stablemate Voyage Bubble in the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, against the FWD QEII Cup hat-trick seeker Romantic Warrior. He will break from stall 11.

“Nimble Nimbus is six now so he was just given a soft trial to keep him happy,” the trainer said. “He’s a magnificent horse and the last two or three seasons he’s been improving. He’s very, very honest. He’ll never run a bad race. We’ll be very happy if he finishes in the first three or four.”