IN an interview at the start of the current season, trainer Richard Gibson appeared to raise one or two eyebrows when he suggested he might at some point try his champion miler Gold-Fun in sprints as he felt he could pick up a Group 1 there.

That judgment was vindicated on Sunday as the big chesnut on his first career start over six furlongs in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize prevailed by a short head from reigning Hong Kong Sprint champion Aerovelocity with Lucky Nine, winner of this race for the previous two years, a neck away in third.