DONNACHA O’Brien is taking on Hong Kong’s sprint sensation Ka Ying Rising, as he sends Comanche Brave to contest the Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin on Sunday (7.35am).

“He travelled over well, everything’s gone to plan,” O’Brien told The Irish Field. “He’s a good traveller, which makes it easy, and he’s in good form.”

The consistent four-year-old was last seen gaining his sixth stakes placing in the Riyadh Turf Sprint, where he finished three-parts of a length behind multiple Group 1 winner Lazzat.

The Wootton Bassett colt has bumped into classy performers previously, having finished half a length second to Henri Matisse in the Red Rocks Stakes last spring.

Sunday will be his first run over six furlongs since drawing clear in a Cork maiden in September of his juvenile career, with subsequent runs coming over seven furlongs and a mile.

O’Brien is confident that Comanche Brave has the speed for six furlongs and has trained him accordingly in the run-up to Sha Tin. “We’re training him more like a sprinter now; trying to put as much speed into him as we can, but he’s always shown a lot of speed at home,” the trainer explained.

“I think he’ll have no problem with six furlongs. Whether six furlongs around here might be a bit sharp for him early in the race, we’ll just have to see. I wouldn’t have any fears going six furlongs in Europe, obviously this is a bit different, but we’re happy to try and see how it goes.”

Sha Tin seems as good a place as any to return to sprinting, given the Chairman’s Sprint Prize purse of HK$24,000,000 (€2,616,120), with the field of eight racing for prize money back to sixth place (worth approximately €52,777).

“It’s good prize money and we’re happy to give it a go, when there aren’t too many big targets in Europe this time of year until Ascot,” O’Brien commented.

Closer to home

Back on home turf, O’Brien will test the classic credentials of Emmeleia in the Group 3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Salsabil Stakes (3.40pm) at Navan today.

The daughter of Camelot built on a promising debut to win a Dundalk maiden earlier this month and enjoyed a form boost when runner-up, stablemate Eretria, drew six and a half lengths clear at Leopardstown.

“We’ve always thought a lot of Emmeleia,” O’Brien said ahead of the filly’s stakes debut. “Obviously, this is a step to group status, so we’ll find out a lot about her. I always thought that if I had an Oaks filly in the yard that it was her, and we’ll find out for sure on Saturday.”

O’Brien’s brother and father also boast strong chances in the 10-furlong contest, saddling Thundering On and Ice Dancer, who previously finished second and third in the Staffordstown Stud Stakes, along with Ballydoyle’s Weld Park Stakes third Minerva.

Johnny Murtagh’s recent Curragh maiden winner Chasing Paradise and Gavin Cromwell’s debut scorer Camino Vino are others among the seven declarations.