De Sousa reigns supreme

Dec 21, 2018 12:00 am

It may have been just a Class 4 sprint at a routine midweek all-weather track meeting, but Silvestre de Sousa's success aboard Winning Supreme at Sha Tin on Wednesday nightadded at least one telling statistic to a tale that could have several notable chapters still to run.

Hong Kong regulars are well aware that de Sousa is a three- time champion in Britain and that he beat some of the world's best in the Longines International Jockeys Challenge at Happy Valley two weeks ago.

Glorious Forever's thrilling all-the-way success in the Hong Kong Cup added a first Hong Kong International Races Group 1 string to the Brazilian's bow, but Winning Supreme's freewheeling success in the Victoria Park Handicap over 1,200m also revealed two more notable facts.

De Sousa has ridden for every one of Hong Kong's 21 active trainers since his four-month contract began just over six weeks ago - a remarkable fact in itself - and this was his first success from just two rides for Me Tsui this term.

However, that statistic pales into insignificance when you consider that de Sousa's 11 Hong Kong winners since the first Sunday last month have collected almost as much prize money as the 176 winners he partnered while travelling the length and breadth of Britain to capture his latest title. - HKJC