Ensued established himself as the nominal Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) favourite at Sha Tin on Saturday when he won an incident-packed Class Two Yan Chai Trophy over the Classic Series finale’s course and distance.

John Size’s British import made it three victories from four Hong Kong starts, passing the post three-quarters of a length in front of Woodfire Bro, whom Jockey Club stewards demoted to third after Five G Patch’s connections lodged an objection alleging interference, which the panel of officials upheld.

Victorious in his first two Hong Kong assignments, Ensued was a luckless eighth on his third appearance in the city, held up multiple times in the Sha Tin home straight under Australian rider Brenton Avdulla.

With Avdulla spending Christmas in his home country and Ensued carrying 115 pounds in his fourth Hong Kong race, Size engaged lightweight jockey Karis Teetan to steer the son of Lemon Drop Kid, whom punters made the $2.70 Yan Chai Trophy favourite.

Prominently positioned just a few lengths off pacesetting Size stablemate Bourbonaire until the Yan Chai Trophy field straightened for the run to the line, Ensued hit the lead with 300m remaining and ran on to impress the 12-time Hong Kong champion trainer.

“He’s done very well,” Size said of the northern hemisphere three-year-old gelding, who filled the frame in all three of his mile races in the United Kingdom. “He likes his racing, he’s got a very good temperament, and he does everything pretty easily.

“Stamina is his strong suit. It’s what he has in his favour. He showed before he came here 2,000m would be no problem. It wasn’t my opinion. It was that he showed he can stay before he was in Hong Kong. That’s why I put him in a 1,800m race on his first start.

“He’s won three out of four, and you can’t deny him anything. He’s now well into Class Two, so he’s got to be given that opportunity [in the Derby].

“There’s a bit of a break now before the next 2,000m race,” added Size, indicating Ensued would be very unlikely to contest the first leg of the Classic Series, the Hong Kong Classic Mile on February 4.

Ensued was the second of Teetan’s weekend winners – the Mauritian jockey was successful aboard Starship Eighty for Pierre Ng Pang-chi three races earlier on the card – and the 33-year-old rider agreed with Size that the youngster is a major Classic Series player.

“That was a great performance,” Teetan said. “He’s a horse coming up the grades and really doing well.

“Mr Size told me, ‘With the light weight, jump him positively, and try to get him into the first four’. I followed the right horse through. In the straight, when I peeled him off, he really quickened up, and when he hit the front – he’s still a baby – he was waiting for the other horses to join him.

“You would think the Classic Cup and the Derby would be his trips. The Mile would be too short for him, but he’s got potential. He’s improving all the time, and he’s definitely on target for those races.”

Thirty minutes after Ensued’s Yan Chai Trophy win and subsequent stewards’ inquiry, another young galloper advertised his Classic Series credentials when Joyful Hunter won the Class Three Pine Handicap (1,200m) by a neck from unconsidered $145 shot Armour War Eagle.

It was Joyful Hunter’s first victory this season as he returned to winning ways after beginning this term with an unbeaten record of two wins from two starts.

“He looks like a four-year-old series horse, but you have to give him time,” Joyful Hunter’s experienced handler, Francis Lui Kin-wai said. “I think he’ll be a good horse, but you have to be careful.”