Mark Newnham’s marvellous March continued at Sha Tin on Sunday (29 March) when the Australian handler snared a treble that saw him return to the top of the trainers’ championship.

The third-year trainer claimed his first HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) triumph earlier this month, comfortably the biggest win of his Hong Kong career. On 18 March, he saddled the first quintet of his career.

Sunday’s treble fired him back to the trainers’ standings summit on 45 wins, two clear of Caspar Fownes on 43. Danny Shum sits two wins back on 41.

Ace (133lb) launched Newnham’s super Sunday when he finally broke through in the Class 5 Chung Chi Alumni Handicap (1400m) for Jerry Chau, who collected another pair to take his tally to 33 for the season.

“I think he’s better than Class 5,” Newnham said. “He galloped very well during the week. He drew a good gate, Jerry gave him an excellent ride, and I think that’ll help the horse’s confidence.

“He won with a bit of authority so I think there’s still improvement to come.”

Max Que (120lb) continued his remarkable season with his first victory in Class 2 company when he took out the Shaw Alumni Handicap (1600m) under Alexis Badel. The Newnham-trained five-year-old has now won four times and has finished in the frame in all nine races this season.

“The horse has been very consistent this season – he’s just a really solid horse,” Newnham said.

“Today, with a nice light weight, and a good stalking ride from Alexis, it was a really good run.

“At the start of the season, I probably didn’t think it was going to be a Class 2 winner. So, I’m happy what he’s achieved so far. You can send him out there and know he’s going to do his best. If that’s good enough to keep winning, great, but he’s had a fantastic season.”

Newnham brought up his treble when Ever Luck (135lb) claimed the Class 4 Faculty Of Education Alumni Handicap (1000m). The Capitalist three-year-old has now won two from five outings in his debut season, with James Orman in the saddle on both occasions.

“He’s always had natural speed, so with the blinkers back on and dropped to 1000m, we just decided to play to his asset,” Newnham said. “He’s struggled previously at 1200m carrying 135lb, but I thought today, with the blinkers on, he just had to use the outside fence as his guide and use that speed.

“As a three-year-old, I think the 1000m trip is as far as he wants to go. He won’t have too many more runs this season.”

Frankie Lor-trained Salon S (134lb) maintained his exceptional record with his fourth win in as many career starts, and further boosted his 2026/27 Four-Year-Old Classic Series credentials.

Ridden by Matthew Poon, the three-year-old son of Zousain produced his usual front-running performance and found another gear in the home straight as the chasing pack began to close, saluting by a length to claim the Class 3 S.H. Ho Alumni Handicap (1400m).

“I was a little bit worried because this time he needed to carry 134lb in Class 3 and he’s only a three-year-old,” Lor said. “But he did a good job. I’ll talk to the owner to see whether we give him one more run. He’ll go up to Class 2 now.

“He’s still learning. The jockey said that if he can relax more, 1600m will be no problem.

“He’s quite exciting. You can see this sire has had some OK horses in Hong Kong, but this one is quite good. I hope he can keep going.”

Young Champion (122lb) dug deep under Andrea Atzeni to grab his first win of the season in a class record time of 1m 07.74s. The John Size-trained gelding may not have worked harder for a victory in his whole career after holding off a battling Patch Of Stars (129lb) in the closing stages of the Class 2 CW Chu Alumni Handicap (1200m).

“He put himself straight there to win the race and he actually fought today too and showed a bit of character; he was there to get beat but didn’t, so I’m very pleased,” Size said.

Shotgun (119lb) was an impressive one-and-three-quarter-length winner of the Class 4 New Asia Alumni Handicap (1400m) and brought up the double for Atzeni. David Hall chalked up his 22nd win of a solid season and looks set to surpass last season’s mark of 26 wins.

David Eustace declared “the penny has finally dropped” after Charity Together (125lb) provided Chau with his second winner of the day and got off the mark in Hong Kong at the 11th time of asking in the Class 4 United Alumni Handicap (2000m). The four-year-old Irish-bred had been knocking at the door, having never finished outside the top five in five runs this term.

“He hasn’t had a huge amount of luck with his barriers,” Eustace said, “but he’s drawn well in his last two starts. He’s only a four-year-old, so I think there’s room for progression there.”

Francis Lui and Vincent Ho combined to grab the Class 4 The CUHK Alumni Cup Handicap (1400m) when King Dance (123lb) got up by a neck at 33/1, while Lor found his way back to the Winner’s Arch courtesy of Better And Better’s (120lb) narrow victory in the Class 4 Graduate School Alumni Handicap (1200m). The win also provided Badel with his second success of the meeting.

Rising Force (130lb) showcased a stunning burst of speed in the last 200 metres to win the Class 3 Wu Yee Sun Alumni Handicap (1200m) under Richard Kingscote for trainer Ricky Yiu, before Francis Lui-trained The Golden Knight (118lb), ridden by Harry Bentley, prevailed in a blanket finish to the Class 3 Morningside and Lee Woo Sing Alumni Handicap (1600m) to close the meeting.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Wednesday (1 April).