Voyage Bubble stamped himself as the leading local hope for December’s Group One Hong Kong Mile with a powerful victory in Sunday’s Group Two BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile at Sha Tin.

Prominent throughout under James McDonald, the Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Voyage Bubble surged to the lead 300m out and was always doing enough to keep his rivals at bay.

While the six-year-old was no match for Galaxy Patch in last month’s Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m), Voyage Bubble comfortably turned the tables on the $1.70 favourite, registering a three-quarter length win over nearest challenger Chancheng Glory.

Galaxy Patch finished a further length and a quarter back in third.

“Yes [I was confident]. Even though he finished second in the Sha Tin Trophy, I think he was only 75 or 80 per cent fit and [I knew] that race would bring him on,” Yiu said.

“This time the conditions were much better than his first start, and he showed the same level of performance that he did last season.”

Jumping from the widest gate in the nine-runner field, Voyage Bubble broke well to sit outside leader Beauty Eternal, who took the field along at a quick early tempo.

Beauty Eternal covered the first half of the race over six lengths quicker than standard time before McDonald, drawing alongside the leader, urged Voyage Bubble forward.

Yiu’s stable star shot two lengths clear of the field and kept on well to the line to deny the fast-finishing Chancheng Glory, who was never near enough to land a blow.

“James knows him really well and with a small field, we made the right decision to bring him forward and travel in a positive position,” Yiu said. “He managed to win it in quite comfortable style.”

A winner of January’s Group One Stewards’ Cup (1,600m) under McDonald, Voyage Bubble had to concede five pounds to all of his rivals with the exception of Beauty Eternal, who broke through at the top level in April’s Champions Mile.

He will head to the Hong Kong Mile on the crest of a wave, with the added benefit of meeting his defeated opponents off level weights.

“It’s nice to get one on the board and he’s trending the right way for three weeks’ time,” McDonald said.

“I thought his run the other day was probably just as good as the favourite and he just needed a bit of luck and we got that. He’s a tough horse, he loves it. He loves [being] in for a fight and he got the job done today.”

Yiu, who moved to 10 victories for the season, was delighted with Sunday’s success and said he hoped there was more to come from his consistent galloper on December 8.

“I will see how he pulls up and mainly we just need to keep him happy because he knows his trick,” Yiu said. “We think there is still a little something left in him.”

After a horror trip four wide turning for home, Galaxy Patch faced an uphill battle in his bid to extend his winning streak to four.

The Pierre Ng Pang-chi-trained five-year-old made smooth headway at the top of the straight but failed to respond when put under pressure by Vincent Ho Chak-yiu.

It was another below-par effort for the John Size-trained Beauty Eternal, who weakened in the closing stages to beat only stablemate Red Lion home.

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