Former French galloper Citron Spirit landed the biggest success of his Hong Kong career with a victory in the Class 2 Hakka Cup Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Saturday (14 October) and trainer Ricky Yiu now has his sights set on stakes company with the five-year-old.

Citron Spirit won three of five races in Europe as a juvenile, including the G3 Zukunfts Rennen (1400m) at Baden-Baden in Germany. The gelding arrived in January 2015 but was unraced until February 2016 – first for Caspar Fownes, then for Yiu – and did not score his first win until January this year.

“He’s a typical European import,” Yiu said. “He’s just taken time to acclimatise, as many of them can, but he’s a happy horse currently and he’s shown that at his last two.”

That included a first Class 2 victory over 1400m when fresh first-up last start. Citron Spirit (120lb) added Saturday’s feature, charging through between runners to grab Almond Lee-trained Keen Venture (118lb) by a short head, with a further neck back to Baba Mama (116lb) in third.

“He can be a bit of a barrier rogue, but I’ve ridden him the last two times and he’s jumped really well,” said Schofield, who brought up a treble with Citron Spirit’s win. “He was able to take up a nice position from a good barrier. Entering the straight, he was travelling well – I had plenty of horse, he just needed a bit of room. There was a very, very narrow gap and, to the horse’s credit, he surged through it.

“I thought Keen Venture had first run and that he might have been out of reach, but my bloke knuckled down and he finished the race really well. It’s a great thrill.”

Yiu is now eyeing the Group 3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse (1800m) for Citron Spirit, taking heart from the fact that two of the last three winners – Top Act (2015) and Packing Llaregyb (2014) – were similarly-rated when they won the handicap.

“I have no worries about the added trip for him, it would more be that the quality of the race could be quite strong,” he said. “It could be against some good horses, but in his current form, he deserves a chance. They are handicaps, after all.”

And Schofield believes that the five-year-old is more than capable of holding his own up in class.

“Why not? He’s racing in career best form, he showed his win last time was no fluke,” Schofield said. “He won really well today so I wouldn’t be brave enough to say he couldn’t go even further.”

Schofield earlier took the opener, the Class 5 29th World Hakka Conference Handicap (1600m), aboard Frankie Lor’s Furious Pegasus before adding the Class 4 Hong Kong Federation Of Overseas Chinese Associations Handicap (1400m) on C P Power for Tony Millard.

Hall, Rawiller bring up milestones

It was a day of milestones as trainer David Hall brought up his 400th Hong Kong win with Little Giant in the Class 2 Hakka Culture Handicap (1200m) and jockey Nash Rawiller made it 100 local winners with a double.

Little Giant (119lb) arrived from New Zealand with wins over multiple G1 winner Humidor and G1-placed Chocante and had impressed at his local debut in May. He made his dirt debut on Saturday under Zac Purton, recording a tough three-quarter length score over hardy Pablosky (124lb).

“We were thinking about running him in a 1200m on the grass a couple of weeks back, but he missed a trial due to bad weather,” Hall said. “I just decided I wasn’t frightened to run him on the dirt, so we waited a little bit longer. The horse had yielding track form in New Zealand, he’d worked and trialled well on the dirt, there was never a question in my mind about whether he’d handle it.

“It was a very tough performance today, he almost got cleaned up on the bend and again in the straight. He had to be pretty brave and I noticed the margin to the third horse was sizeable, so I was impressed.”

It was one of two wins for Purton, who continued his strong record in dirt races this season aboard Hong Kong debutant Spotlight Dream in the Class 3 Mei Zhou City Handicap (1200m) for trainer Danny Shum.

Rawiller notched his century aboard Millard’s Strathclyde in the Class 4 Zhongshan Hakka Handicap (1200m) before completing his brace on Ace King for Peter Ho in the Class 3 World Hakka Capital Handicap (1000m).

“I’m happy because at one stage, it didn’t look like I would ride 100 winners here,” Rawiller said. “I’ve stuck at it though and I’m starting to get a few rewards for the time I’ve put in, and I’m starting to feel like I’m building some momentum again.”

It was a big day for Australian jockeys, with nine of the 10 races going to riders originally based down under. In addition to Schofield, Purton and Rawiller, Brett Prebble also scored a double aboard King Winsa and Regency Bo Bo, with Keith Yeung the sole non-Australian rider to salute on Unique Joyful.

Racing returns to Happy Valley on Wednesday night for an eight-race card, beginning at 7.15pm, as Oktoberfest celebrations continue at the city track.