Caspar Fownes believes Straight Arron will boast a triple-figure rating in due course as the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) fifth placegetter returns to all-age company in Sunday’s card-closing Class Two Wan Chai Gap Handicap (1,800m) at Sha Tin.

On his current mark of 84, Straight Arron is the lowest-rated runner in the Wan Chai Gap Handicap field, which features not only three last-start winners in Alacrity, Champion Dragon and Spirited Express but also three four-year-old gallopers he beat in last month’s Derby – Sword Point (sixth), Sweet Encounter (seventh) and Beautyverse (12th).

Jockey Club handicappers raised Straight Arron’s rating from 81 to 84 following his two-length fifth behind Voyage Bubble, Tuchel, Beauty Eternal and Keefy in the Derby, which was not run to suit the former David Hayes-trained import from Australia.

“It was a really good run. Unfortunately, we were in the wrong spot as it turned out,” said Fownes of Straight Arron’s Derby effort on what was only the galloper’s second start for the King of the Valley.

Straight Arron’s first appearance for Fownes was over the same course and distance as the Wan Chai Gap Handicap, and it resulted a one-and-a-quarter-length Class Three victory that earned him an eight-point penalty and a coveted place in the Derby line-up.

Fownes, one of only four handlers to train 1,000 Hong Kong winners, knows a Group-quality performer when he sees one, and he has seen enough from Straight Arron in two months to bet on him reaching triple figures.

“I’d be confident to say he’s going to get to 100,” said Fownes, whose CV includes guiding the likes of Lucky Nine, Sky Field and Southern Legend to Group One triumphs. “Once they cross that mark, it becomes tough for them, but he’s a horse who we don’t know where his true rating is. He’s just starting to put it all together. Sunday will tell us a bit, but I believe in my heart he’s going to get to 100 plus.”

The Happy Valley win of Victory Scholars on Wednesday was the seventh success for Fownes this month after what was a largely unsuccessful February and March.

“It’s nice when your horses are racing well,” Fownes said. “It’s a tough system. You need things to go your way. You need to get the right races and the right rides to get the winning results, so it’s nice when you get on a roll. Long may it continue.”

One of the four Fownes-trained gallopers already rated 100 plus is Senor Toba, who won the first of Friday’s seven trials at Happy Valley. Senor Toba jumped from the outside gate in the 10-runner heat over 1,700m, and he scored by a head margin from Dennis Yip Chor-hong’s Yeaboi.

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Seventh, eighth and 10th in his three races during his recent tour of the Middle East, Senor Toba is back on home soil and preparing for the Group Three Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2,400m) on May 7 and the Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) on May 28.

Last season, Senor Toba carried 120 pounds to win the five-runner Queen Mother Memorial Cup by two lengths from 133-pound top weight Butterfield before he was third in the Champions & Chater Cup, not far behind Ka Ying Star but two and a quarter lengths adrift of Russian Emperor, who surged from last to first.