Caspar Fownes reclaimed the lead in a rollercoaster battle for the 2025/26 Hong Kong trainers’ championship with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (7 January) while the four-time champion’s long-time ally Vincent Ho dominated with a treble.

Fownes moved past Mark Newnham with the victories of Love Together and Perfect General under Ho to have 29 wins for the season to lead Newnham (28), Danny Shum (25) and David Hayes (24), while taking his career tally to 1,195 victories.

Ho, who served his apprenticeship under Fownes, also scored on Manfred Man’s Jolly Companion in his equal-best performance of the season to take his season to 18 and move into fourth place behind Zac Purton (54 wins), Hugh Bowman (25) and Luke Ferraris (19).

“I’m glad tonight that I had good horses and the draws helped as well,” Ho said after Hong Kong International Sale graduate Perfect General (119lb) fought doggedly to land the Class 3 Connaught Handicap (1200m). “It’s been a while (since posting a treble on 15 October at Happy Valley), but I miss this feeling.”

Ho scored on three-year-old Love Together (119lb), who claimed a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million with success in the Class 3 Chater Handicap (1000m). Given the run of the race by Ho, the Capitalist gelding – who raced as Mednyi when trained by Anthony & Sam Freedman in Australia – powered clear late to win in 56.58s.

“He’s a decent horse,” Ho said. “Today, everything was good. He travelled nicely without racing too keenly and I had a horse outside me on the turn, which helped. So, everything was good. He’s a nice horse.”

The four-time Tony Cruz Award winner also prevailed on Manfred Man’s Jolly Companion (121lb) in the second section of the Class 4 Jackson Handicap (1200m).

“I was a bit surprised, he (Jolly Companion) started this year with some good runs but his recent form has not been like that,” Man said. “He was a bit unlucky last time, I think. It was a good ride by Vincent (Ho) tonight.”

Man registered a double with Celtic Times (121lb), who posted his second course and distance success this season with a sustained finish to claim the first section of the Class 4 Club Handicap (1650m) under Jerry Chau.

“Of course, I’m very happy with two winners tonight and the season so far,” Man said.

Chau brought up a double when Stormi (120lb) led and defied all to clinch the Class 4 Hong Kong Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1650m) for Cody Mo.

“It’s been a brilliant night,” Chau said. “Stormi has been waiting to win for so long (16 starts). Cody put the cheekpieces on – he focused and he settled and that was the key.

“Celtic Times, I had been watching his previous races and I just let him have a smooth run, with cover, and settled and he gave me a very good finish.”

John Size continued to build momentum to slot his sixth winner from the past four meetings with Amazing Kid’s (123lb) success in the first section of the Class 4 Jackson Handicap (1200m) under Andrea Atzeni. The Exceed And Excel gelding sat just off the pace before finishing powerfully for his second straight course and distance win.

Beauty Missile (128lb) rewarded the patience of connections when he broke his maiden status at his 37th start for Brett Crawford and Hugh Bowman in the Class 5 Murray Handicap (1800m). Headed at the 200m, the Smart Missile gelding rallied strongly to defeat Romantic Fantasy (129lb) and Storm Runner (134lb).

“To be fair, I think he shows better work in the morning than what he’s producing at the moment on the racetrack, so I’m hoping today will be a good confidence builder for him. I certainly think he’s better than Class 5. I thought today was a gutsy win,” Crawford said after notching his 10th win of the season.

Straight To Glory (126lb) scored his first win for Michael Chang and Derek Leung, triumphing in the third section of the Class 4 Jackson Handicap (1200m) before Ricky Yiu’s Solid Win (118lb) claimed his first Happy Valley victory in the Class 3 Des Voeux Handicap (1650m) under Matthew Poon.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on 11 January.