Horse Racing
Season
Double delight for Fownes and Lor at Happy Valley

By Declan Schuster
05/03/2020 00:08

Shamport rounds out a race-to-race double for Fownes.
Shamport rounds out a race-to-race double for Fownes.

Caspar Fownes’ rich vein of form at Happy Valley continued on Wednesday (4 March) as he secured his second double from his last six runners at the city circuit.

Fownes had only one win from February’s first seven meetings before a quick-fire double last week got the ball rolling into an ideal March beginning tonight, taking his total at the Valley this season to 18 with seven wins coming at Sha Tin.

The three-time champion trainer opened his account with Tangmere who ground home for Zac Purton in the Class 4 Ma Tau Kok Handicap (1650m). The Frankel gelding rewarded a patient group of connections as he saluted for the first time since his arrival in Hong Kong nearly two years ago.

“You just never give up in Hong Kong – we’ve seen it time and again, I’ve taken over many horses that have been 30 and zip and then they’ve got a record of five or six wins – now it happens, they arrive here at the top of Class 3 and it sort of takes time for them to settle in especially if they’ve got issues,” Fownes said.

Zac Purton drives Tangmere to his first Hong Kong win.

Trained by Chris Waller pre-import, the New Zealand-bred got his Australian maiden out of the way at Randwick in February 2018, but had to wait over two years before he would enter the winner’s arch again.

“He had an infection after we castrated him – so he was out for quite a while and then he had a few niggling problems as you have every now and again, but let’s hope that’s behind us and hopefully we can go forward and produce another winner for the owners – I’m very happy for them they’ve been patient so they deserve that win,” Fownes said.

The trainer sealed a race-to-race double when the Conghua-based Shamport grabbed his third win this term in the second section of the Class 4 To Kwa Wan Handicap (1200m).

“He’s another horse that’s taken time to adapt to Hong Kong – he’s enjoyed himself at Conghua, so we keep him over there and bring him back here for his racing and it seems to be working nicely for him,” Fownes said.

The Shamardal gelding motored down the outside for Vincent Ho. After settling midfield on the rail throughout, the rider niggled the gelding to the outer before unleashing a powerful turn of foot over the finish.

Shamport sweeps to victory for Vincent Ho.

The handler once again heaped praise on the state-of-the-art facility at Conghua, crediting Shamport’s three wins this term to the Mainland training centre.

“We can see trot-up videos, gallop videos – we get a lot of information, you can sit back here and control your stable nicely and the main thing is having someone up there you trust – which I have – they’re all good guys so I’m happy,” Fownes said.

Two for Lor

Frankie Lor has 26 wins this term.
Frankie Lor has 26 wins this term.

Frankie Lor also collected a brace as his improving gelding Flash Famous grabbed his fourth win at his sixth start this season in tonight’s first section of the Class 3 San Po Kong Handicap (1650m).

“This season he looks much better, Conghua has helped this horse a lot,” Lor said.
“Last season I wanted to try and win for the owners but his form wasn’t quite 100 percent as he had a few problems but this season his rating dropped and his form came back and since then he has continued to improve each run.”

Lor’s charge has risen 17 rating points since his first success of this term after commencing 2019/20 on a career-low mark of 45.

The Australian-bred gelding broke cleanly to settle on the pace for championship leading jockey Joao Moreira, before bursting clear for a comfortable length and a half score.

Flash Famous gets his fourth track and distance success this term.

Moreira landed his first win back from a two-meeting suspension as well as his second in succession aboard the Ilovethiscity gelding.

“It’s great to get a win back, always, it doesn’t matter when,” Moreira said.

“Frankie (Lor) has got him going very well, from gate one it wasn’t very difficult – fortunately he was in a good mood so he jumped better than he usually does to put himself up there and from the position turning for home he was going to have the best shot, especially with the light weight on his back, but all the praise should go to Frankie for having him going so well.”

Lor opened his account when Solar Wai Wai surged clear for Neil Callan in the second section of the Class 3 San Po Kong Handicap (1650m).

“I always tried to race him at Sha Tin but Class 3 races at Sha Tin tend to be stronger so I brought him back to Happy Valley because usually it’s a bit weaker and stake money is the same,” Lor said.

This Is Class cruises to victory.

The third of the evening’s Class 3 contests went the way of This Is Class who triumphed in the Kowloon City Handicap (1200m) for Vincent Ho and Francis Lui.

“He’s a talented horse – last season he had an injury but he’s a talented horse for sure,” Ho said.

The Australian-bred gelding had a left front tendon injury last season but has returned this campaign to add two impressive all-the-way wins at his last two starts.

Master Albert made it back-to-back wins at the Valley, Karis Teetan driving the gelding out to a three-quarter length score in the first section of the Class 4 To Kwa Wan Handicap (1200m) for trainer Chris So who bagged his third win since 26 February, taking his season total to 17.

“He’s changed this season – I haven’t ridden him a lot, I’ve just been on him this season but each and every run has been good as he’s hardly missed the money,” Teetan said.

Karis Teetan drives Master Albert to victory.
Karis Teetan drives Master Albert to victory.

The consistent gelding has raced nine times this term for two wins and has only finished outside of the top three on three occasions.

“His last win was good, there’s a few things about him that you need to understand about him but Chris (So) has him in good condition, especially to keep him in good shape like that – particularly for an older horse,” Teetan said.

Derek Leung moved to 299 Hong Kong career wins after securing the Class 4 Kowloon Tong Handicap (1800m) aboard the John Moore-trained Gala Night.

Chad Schofield continued his good form from last Sunday with a win aboard Farm Bumper in the Class 5 Ma Tau Wai Handicap (1000m) for Manfred Man.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin this Sunday (8 March).