Caspar Fownes edged ahead of Mark Newnham in a rollercoaster battle for the 2025/26 Hong Kong trainers’ championship with a double at Happy Valley on Tuesday night (23 December), closing the meeting in dramatic circumstances when Kaholo Angel dead-heated with Helene Feeling.

Champion trainer in 2006/07, 2008/09, 2013/14 & 2020/21, Fownes holds a slender margin over Newnham – 27 wins to 25 – after notching his seventh victory at the City Circuit in December after the judge could not separate Kaholo Angel (124lb) under Ellis Wong and Danny Shum’s Helene Feeling (135lb) for Hugh Bowman in the Class 2 Neptune Handicap (1650m).

“He’s (Kaholo Angel) been in good form, the horse,” Fownes said. “We felt he had a sneaky chance tonight and it was a great result. We gave him a chance against a tough field. He’s an honest horse – he’s been getting all his (six) wins at the Valley over 1200m and it’s great to see the kid give him a lovely ride.

“On his trial last week, he gave us a nice indication that he would stay the trip, especially at this track.”

Fownes struck midway through the card when course specialist Sugar Sugar (130lb) posted his first success since 30 October, 2024 to claim his seventh course and distance win, also prevailing under Wong in 1m 09.55 and convincingly downing Giant Ballon (126lb) and Winning Money (124lb).

“He’s (Sugar Sugar) done us well. He’s a good course and distance horse at Happy Valley, he loves 1200. He’s been racing quite consistently at Sha Tin and just needed a class drop and the inside draw (barrier four) to have a chance tonight and the kid rode him perfectly, so it was good,” Fownes said.

Apart from leading the overall standings, Fownes also holds sway at Happy Valley with 18 wins from Shum (14) and David Hayes (nine).

Maxime Guyon continues to thrive during a productive short-term stint, firing in a double aboard Quantum Patch and The Auspicious to take his tally to six wins from 46 rides to share riding honours with Wong.

The Frenchman’s decisive midrace move enabled Pierre Ng-trained Quantum Patch (133lb) to return to the winner’s circle for the first time in 21 starts with a three-length margin in the second section of the Class 4 Venus Handicap (1650m) before he also struck on The Auspicious for Me Tsui.

Forced to drop back to the tail of the 12-horse field from barrier 10 on Quantum Patch, Guyon made his move 800m from home, sitting four-wide and trusting in the Irish-bred galloper’s stamina.

“I had a bad draw and I just needed to wait. The pace was not fast and when I came into the race, he did it very easy and he won very easy tonight,” Guyon said.

Tsui also slotted a brace, prevailing when The Auspicious (119lb) pipped Liveandletlive (129lb) on the line to claim the Class 3 Saturn Handicap (2200m).

“He has a very strong finish over the last 300m and can do it at Sha Tin and Happy Valley,” Tsui said of The Auspicious. “I’m very happy with my form.”

Tsui, who has 11 wins for the campaign, also figured with Concorde Star (124lb) broke through at his 11th start to land the Class 5 Mercury Handicap (1200m) under James Orman.

Frankie Lor moved to within one victory of the 500-win mark when Zac Purton triumphed on Absolute Awakened (122lb) in the first section of the Class 4 Venus Handicap (1650m). Sidelined with a fetlock injury in August, 2024, the gelding gave sire Ardrossan a running double following Concorde Star’s breakthrough.

Hayes maintained his championship aspirations with Awesome Treasure’s (122lb) all-the-way success in the second section of the Class 4 Jupiter Handicap (1200m) under Lyle Hewitson. Having his 50th start, the eight-year-old boosted his prizemoney earnings to beyond HK$6 million.

California Blitz (130lb) defied a late challenge from Good Luck Happy (127lb) to post his second course and distance win with success in the Class 4 Jupiter Handicap (1200m) for Cody Mo and Matthew Chadwick.

The Capitalist gelding prevailed by a short head on 3 December and scored by a head tonight in 1m 09.45.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Saturday (27 December).