FOUR-YEAR-OLD bay colt Morimoto, who returned to competitive racing on September 2 after a one-year layoff, was projected to the winners’ enclosure at least once.

However, the Anthony Nunes trainee had failed to light any spark in his four races this season, finishing sixth, third, and fourth.

Morimoto, on the other hand, has his greatest chance to break his seasonal duck today when he competes in the $1.19-million Charles Hussey OD Trophy over five furlongs (1,000m) straight at Caymanas Park.

Morimoto, who was bred by Casual Trick out of the Burning Marque mare Luckybegood, meets an ordinary field today, with Ring Charmer, Power Ranking, KP Choice, and Ultimate Machine as his likely competitors for first place.

Backed as the favourite in his last two races Morimoto featured prominently in the early stages of the races before giving way in deep stretch over six and a half furlongs (1,300m) and seven furlongs (1,400m) on October 29 and November 19, respectively.

Despite not challenging at his best distances in this sprinting gallop, Morimoto should do well over the straight and set the record straight today. He should find no match for his speed from the outside draw at post 11 in the 12-horse field and might dominate the second half of the race.

The Restricted Overnight Allowance contest for three-year-olds and upward is positioned as the seventh event on the 10-race card with a post time of 3:10 pm. First race is at 11:30 am.

Ring Charmer, who comes from the barn of Patrick Lynch, shows up when least expected with telling efforts that can spring a surprise. In his last race on November 19 over seven furlongs, Ring Charmer finished third by 5¾ lengths behind Rainsville and Sunset Silhoutte, and was 7½ lengths ahead of Morimoto who was fourth by 13¼ lengths. Ring Charmer is going to make another brave bid again.

Power Ranking has been a model of consistency, finishing second on four of his last five runs. On July 23 this year he was just beaten by Lure of Lucy over today’s distance so another excellent performance like that might put Power Ranking in contention here.

KP Choice hasn’t done anything in his two attempts at the level, however the Ricardo Brown trainee has always raced nicely down the straight. With his excellent speed KP Choice must be given an outside shot today.

Well-beaten in his three attempts since graduating to the level, the Robert Ffrench-trained Ultimate Machine should, nevertheless, be comfortable among this group of runners and is expected to impact the outcome.

Ones to watch

Race 1) Milos/Curlin’s Affair/Big Big Daddy

Race 2) Fly Messenger Fly/Select Me/Justin Biden

Race 3) Intrestntimesahead/World Suprise/Oil Machine

Race 4) Thunderstrike/JamalJames/XY Soul

Race 5) Ali/Storm Valley/Fiery Path

Race 6) Sparkles/Shadow of a Doubt/Ertugrul

Race 7) Morimoto/Power Ranking/Ring Charmer

Race 8) Crimson/Classic Orb/Rohan Kabir

Race 9) Manoushe/Natural Dancer/Stein

Race 10) Fearless Soul/Rhythm Buzz/Burning Valor