WHEN Kevin Molloy and Paddy Kelly arrived at Tattersalls in the autumn of 2013 for Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale, the pair had every confidence that the latest offspring of Molloy’s smart producer, Mohican Princess, was as good a prospect as anything on the sales ground.

That may yet prove to be the case, particularly if the bay, now known as Eastern Express, can make his mark in Sunday’s HK$18 million Group 1 BMW Hong Kong Derby over 10 furlongs at Sha Tin, but at Tattersalls two and a half years ago, the sceptics outnumbered the believers.