Veteran galloper Dundonnell turned back the years with victory in the Chinese New Year Cup Handicap (1400m) at Sha Tin’s annual Chinese New Year fixture on Sunday (18 February), giving freshman trainer Frankie Lor his first Class 1 feature in front of almost 90,000 spectators.

Dundonnell was one of the first horses to join Lor’s stable when the handler became a fully-fledged member of Hong Kong’s training ranks in July last year, having previously been with Ricky Yiu, Richard Gibson and, most recently, Caspar Fownes. The First Defence eight-year-old had not won since taking the HKG2 Sprint Cup (1200m) in April, 2015, while one previous effort in Sunday’s race had resulted in a runner-up finish in 2014.

“I’m very lucky that the owner let me take my time with him,” Lor said. “He’s an old horse now, he’s got a number of issues as any horse would at that age but he’s been well recently and fairly straightforward. This has been his target all season and I’m glad it paid off.”

Jockey Chad Schofield paid tribute to Lor’s patience with 8/1 shot Dundonnell as the freshman trainer picked up his biggest victory to date.

“What a training effort by Frankie to guide him through his niggles and issues and to win a feature with him – he’s a top trainer,” Schofield said. “He’s proven time and again this season that he’s very good, he’s done it with Class 5 horses and now he’s doing it at the top too.”

Schofield settled Dundonnell (131lb) in fourth, one off the rail, as 3.1 favourite Wah May Friend (130lb) set a brisk tempo out in front.

“He was aided by a perfect barrier, gate four, where I was able to jump him out and get him into the gun spot all the way,” he said. “He always travelled like he was going to quicken under me; when I peeled him away from cover and I asked him to quicken, he dashed well and he held them all the way to the line.”

For Schofield, it was a red-letter day as he began the Year of the Dog with a bang. The rider, who turned 24 last Friday (16 February), scored his first Hong Kong four-timer, including the day’s feature, the Hong Kong Classic Cup aboard Singapore Sling for Tony Millard.

Schofield also won the second section of the Class 4 Lucky Star Handicap (1200m) on Millard’s debutant Silver Fig before completing his quartet of winners with an exciting triumph aboard the Richard Gibson-trained Wishful Thinker in the Class 3 Kung Hei Handicap (1200m).

“I was hoping both could run well, but they both ran terrific races, probably even better than I expected. I’m excited to see what they can do going forward,” Schofield said.

Lor also added to his tally with Simply Brilliant taking the Class 3 Kut Cheong Handicap (1400m) under Zac Purton. Simply Brilliant, formerly named Senator, is the first son of champion galloper Frankel to win in Hong Kong.

“I was glad today because my former boss (John Size) didn’t have any top horses in there!” Lor laughed. “I’ve had to send him up against Ping Hai Star and Conte his last two starts, but thankfully there was nothing of that quality today. I think he’ll have no problems in Class 2, and if he can develop some more physically and mentally, maybe even higher.”

Turnover on the Chinese New Year meeting reached HK$1.738 billion, the second-highest figure for the fixture.

Racing resumes at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (21 February), which features the finale of the Hong Kong Airlines Million Challenge.