Mugen is thriving in Japan as Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s emerging sprinter prepares for his first international Group One tilt in Sunday’s Sprinters Stakes (1,200m) at Nakayama.

Mugen and fellow Hong Kong sprinter Victor The Winner flew to Japan a week ago and transferred to Nakayama racecourse on Tuesday after completing the mandatory seven days of quarantine.

Ng said Mugen, a last-start winner of the Group Three Premier Cup (1,400m) at Sha Tin, galloped at the quarantine centre at Shiroi Horse Racing School on Monday and will have his final gallop at Nakayama under race rider, Karis Teetan, on Friday.

“Mugen’s very well,” Ng said. “It seems like he didn’t travel at all, which is a good sign. Hopefully we’ll see how he picks up a little bit more condition during the week, but I’m over the moon with him.”

Ng identified Mugen as an overseas Group One sprinting prospect after his superb 2023-24 campaign, which included four wins and a third placing behind Invincible Sage in the Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m) in April.

The six-year-old booked his ticket to Japan when he stormed home from last to beat star sprinter, California Spangle, narrowly in the Premier Cup in June.

Mugen and Victor The Winner will bid to join Tony Cruz’s champion Silent Witness (2005) and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s Ultra Fantasy (2010) as Hong Kong-trained winners of the Sprinters Stakes.

Victor The Winner is also in good condition in Japan and will gallop at Nakayama under race rider, Joao Moreira, on Wednesday.

The Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained Group One winner is no stranger to Japan, having run third to Mad Cool in the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1,200m) at Chukyo racecourse in March.

That run followed his first elite-level triumph in the Centenary Sprint Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin in January.

Early overseas fixed odds markets have Mugen on the second line of betting behind Japan’s progressive sprinter Satono Reve, a winner at seven of nine starts including his last three in a row.

The Noriyuki Hori-trained five-year-old is unbeaten from three starts at Nakayama and was victorious in the Group Three Hakodate Sprint Stakes (1,200m) and Group Three Keeneland Cup (1,200m) at his past two appearances.

Australian ace Damian Lane will make the trip to maintain the ride on Satono Reve after booting him home in the Keeneland Cup.

The Sprinters Stakes field also includes Mad Cool, who lines up for the first time since running 11th in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, and last year’s winner of the race, Mama Cocha.

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