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Grand Koonta will attempt to restore some gloss to his lacklustre performance in the Lion City Cup by going one better in the feature race that got away last year, the $250,000 Group 2 EW Barker Trophy (1400m) this Sunday.

The sparingly-raced Irish-bred grey unwound with a sizzling run under Alysha Collett in last year's renewal of the handicap feature only to come up short by a head to Fame Star.

At his next start, with Collett up again, the same tiny margin agonisingly got the Dark Angel five-year-old so near and yet so far from a first big-race win in the Group 3 Fortune Bowl (1400m).

Post-Circuit Breaker, he resumed in the best possible manner with a stylish first-up win in a Class 1 race over 1200m for A'Isisuhairi Kasim (Collett left Kranji during the COVID-19 break), but his moderate sixth to Inferno next time out in the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1200m) on October 25 was way below the top-three finish he is well capable of.

Trainer James Peters admitted himself he was a little disappointed with the run of the China Horse Club-owned five-time winner, but that dampener has not strayed the gelding off the path he had already been masterminded towards. If anything, the English handler sees the EW Barker Trophy as an excellent opportunity for redemption.

"Maybe second-up, he was possibly a touch flat, I'm not sure," he said.

"He also got so far back from the wide barrier. Maybe he was not good enough on the day.

"He still ran okay. With Inferno not in the race, it's quite a wide-open race and he also gets in with 54.5kgs on his back, he gets in quite nicely at the weights.

"I'm only frustrated at barrier 16. We've had no luck at all in feature races, always drawing the outside gate, it just makes it more difficult.

"Otherwise, everything is sweet with him. He's pulled up good after the Lion City Cup."

His first-time partner that day was Louis-Philippe Beuzelin, but the Frenchman won't be able to renew the partnership in the EW Barker Trophy after he lost his appeal against a three-week suspension for two careless riding charges.

It's fellow countryman Marc Lerner who has been handed the job to warm up the seat this Sunday, giving the former German-based jockey a top chance to annex back-to-back wins in the EW Barker Trophy, which he won impressively with Fame Star from the front last year.

Ironically, he won't sit on the US-bred five-year-old son of Twirling Candy at his double bid. Lerner has partnered the John O'Hara-trained galloper at his four runs since the EW Barker Trophy success for one win at his very next start back in February, but the last three runs have been major letdowns, including a fast-fading 10th place in the Lion City Cup at his last start.

Fame Star will be ridden for the first time by Singapore champion jockey Vlad Duric who is returning from a one-day suspension for careless riding.

"I've never ridden Grand Koonta  but I know he's a very honest horse," said Lerner.

"I really think he's got a very good chance."

The Peters-Lerner pairing is a fairly new association that has gained traction only in the last couple of months with two winners coming their way last month, Mandrake and Showcase The Gold.

"Marc's riding well and has ridden a few winners for us lately. I'm happy to have him on Grand Koonta," said Peters.

"This horse has been very unlucky in big races. Last year, he ran second to Fame Star in the EW Barker and earlier this year, he bumped into Bold Thruster in the Fortune Bowl.

"He really deserves a big-race win."

Peters saddles another Irish-bred in the EW Barker Trophy, lightweight chance Yulong Fast Steed. The six-year-old entire by Exceed And Excel is coming off a hot streak of three wins in a row, but all coming at Class 4 level.

On 71 points, he is not as well in at the weights, though. On paper, he should carry 41.5kgs, but will instead have the minimum weight of 50kgs on his back, a whopping 17 points over his rating.

Peters is putting three-kilo claimer Yusoff Fadzli on the Yu Long Stable-owned galloper, but that won't shave off another six pounds off as apprentice jockeys aren't able to claim in feature races.