Pair of newcomers make first appearances count
Horsepower and Young Emperor shine as trainer Eustace, three jockeys enjoy double
HONG KONG - Victories by a pair of Hong Kong debutants – Horsepower and Young Emperor – highlighted the Happy Valley meeting on Oct 27 when trainer David Eustace and jockeys Vincent Ho, Zac Purton and Luke Ferraris shone with doubles.
Formerly known as Fire Follower when prepared in Australia by Anthony and Sam Freedman, the Frankie Lor-trained Horsepower earned a Pre-import Performance (PP) Bonus of HK$1.5 million (S$255,000) after sweeping to victory in the Class 3 Zhuhai Handicap (1,000m) under Purton.
Raced by the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s chairman Michael Lee and his wife Vanessa, Horsepower impressed seven-time champion jockey Purton despite the Harry Angel gelding’s waywardness.
“It was a really good effort because he didn’t break as well as I was hoping he was going to,” said Purton. “I was in an awkward spot – I couldn’t press forward, I couldn’t come back to get in. In the straight, he wanted to keep hanging in and running in on me, so he made it difficult for me.”
Purton secured a brace in a thrilling finale to the card when the Francis Lui-trained Copartner Prance claimed the Class 2 Guangzhou Handicap (1,200m) by a nose over Lucky Encounter – condemning trainer David Hayes to five second placings from nine runners for the day.
Young Emperor caught Ferraris by surprise, with the young South African predicting the Irish import will continue to improve after he claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million to provide Eustace with his Hong Kong brace.
Raced by the HKJC Racing Club Limited, the Holy Roman Emperor three-year-old defied his starting price of 41-1 in surging past Romantic Son and Righteous Arion to prevail at his first attempt in Hong Kong.
Formerly known as Eclipse Emerald when trained by James Stack in Ireland, where he won over 1,186m at Naas, Young Emperor finished powerfully under Ferraris in the Class 3 1,200m event.
“It was a nice surprise. He’s a nice horse and he was really professional the way he went about his business today, which I think helped a lot,” Ferraris said.
“He had a really sticky barrier, but came right back to me and got into a nice rhythm and, when we presented, he quickened up nicely.
“I think he’ll improve off this. He was fairly green when he did get his head in front. It’s nice for David to have a double as well as for myself.”
Eustace believes the gelding will eventually flourish over long trips at Sha Tin.
“I think he’ll be a good horse to get to Sha Tin when the programme allows, which it does in a couple of weeks,” he said.
“He’ll stay 2,000m, no problem. You never know, he might get a bit further but, obviously, there aren’t a lot of races to do that.”
Ho teamed with Manfred Man to land the Class 4 Foshan Handicap (1,650m) before scoring on Charity Gain in the Class 4 Shenzhen Handicap (1,800m) in tandem with Eustace.
With nine wins in the past five meetings, four-time Tony Cruz Award winner Ho boosted his tally for the season to 11 to trail only Purton (30) and Hugh Bowman (17).
Me Tsui’s veteran Happy Tango posted his sixth Hong Kong victory when the nine-year-old charged late for Angus Chung to clinch the Class 4 Kwangtung Handicap Cup (1,000m) as Hong Kong International Sale (HKIS) graduate Denfield scored a third win at his 20th start for Danny Shum, triumphing in the second section of the Class 4 Huizhou Handicap (1,200m) under Bowman.
David Hall celebrated his 61st birthday with Sharpen Bright’s nose victory in the Class 3 Dongguan Handicap (1,800m) under Karis Teetan.
“We were looking for a present today and we got one, so a happy trainer for a happy birthday,” said Hall. “He was up in Class 3 with a light weight, so the market was telling you he would be competitive. But he had to work for it and 1,800m is probably a bit short of his best trip.”
Matthew Chadwick continued a strong start to the season, combining with Cody Mo to win the Class 5 Chaozhou Handicap (1,200m) before the Ricky Yiu-trained Smart Fighter prevailed in the first section of the Class 4 Huizhou Handicap (1,200m) under Ferraris.
“It’s nice to get another winner for Ricky and I’m happy with the way things are going at the moment,” said Ferraris. HKJC
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