Rising star Galaxy Patch will chase a breakthrough Group win in June’s Lion Rock Trophy (1,600m), provided he pleases Pierre Ng Pang-chi in the lead-up to the HK$4.2 million contest.

Ng confirmed Galaxy Patch is on track to finish his season in the Group Three contest after his exciting youngster ran with credit in the Group One Champions Mile at the end of April.

“We plan on running him in the Group Three mile race on June 2, but it will depend on how he trials and his preparation,” Ng said. “If he shows us he’s not ready for that then we’ll stop for the season.”

A winner on his only start in Australia, Galaxy Patch has rapidly risen through the grades over a range of distances in his first season in the city.

After he triumphed in four of his first five local starts over 1,200m, the son of Wandjina gave a good account over the minimum trip and was thrown into the deep end in March’s Group One Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m).

Galaxy Patch flashed home from the rear of the field to finish second to California Spangle under Karis Teetan and reproduced his customary turn of foot to fill the runner-up spot in the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) two weeks later.

The four-year-old made his 10th appearance of the campaign in last month’s Group One Champions Mile and finished fifth on the rain-softened surface.

“As he’s raced more, he’s learned not to be too fresh and keen during his races,” Ng said. “He’s learned from his experience to relax and finish off stronger over the longer distances.”

After his final run of the season in June, Galaxy Patch will be aimed towards December’s Group One Hong Kong Mile.

“I think we’ll look for the [Hong Kong] Mile,” Ng said. “We’ll have to look at his schedule in September and October with [the Group Three Celebration Cup (1,400m)] and see how he performs. Ideally we’ll pick the mile for him.”

Ng sits four wins clear of his nearest pursuer, Francis Lui Kin-wai, in the trainers’ championship and says he is feeling the heat as he approaches the final stages of the season.

“I’m not comfortable at all,” Ng said. “I predicted they will come at us very hard and we just need to keep our momentum.

“There’s 17 meetings left and hopefully we can get around seven more winners. I think we’ve done our very best for our second season, so let’s see how it plays out.”

Ng will aim to return to the winner’s enclosure when he takes a nine-strong team to Happy Valley on Wednesday, with the 40-year-old handler nominating Dragon Star as his best chance of the evening in the first section of the Class Four Ciron Handicap (1,650m).

“Recently the past two or three weeks there’s been no chance from behind, so I think Dragon Star is probably our most likely chance,” Ng said.

Ng will not have a representative in the Group One Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) after he decided to give his Derby runner-up Ka Ying Generation a rest until next season.

Entries for the final leg of the Triple Crown were released on Monday, with Russian Emperor, Five G Patch, La City Blanche, Massive Sovereign, Moments In Time, Senor Toba, Straight Arron and Unbelievable set to line up on May 26 along with British star Rebel’s Romance.