Jockey Derek Leung is hopeful that giant grey Pingwu Spark can graduate to Group 1 company when he faces his first true heavyweight test in Sunday’s (25 February) Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin.
Tipping the scales at over 1,330 pounds, Pingwu Spark is the biggest horse in training in Hong Kong and has an engine to go with his robust frame, winning five of his six starts this season – two at 1200m and three at 1400m – to earn his spot against some of the best gallopers in town.
“He’s very honest and he’s had a fantastic season,” Leung said. “He’s just kept improving and now he’s earned his chance at a Group 1. It’s a big gap and he has to prove himself, but he’s a horse with potential and he’s an up-and-coming Group 1 horse, so we hope he can run super next weekend.
“Everything is spot on, I think. I trialled him last Tuesday (13 February) and he did it quite easily. So he’s in the right spot, he just needs to prove he is good enough.”
Leung, who currently sits in fifth in the Hong Kong jockeys’ premiership with 25 wins this season, says that when he first started working with the Benno Yung-trained Pingwu Spark almost a year ago, the son of Mastercraftsman was less a thoroughbred and more like another grey animal.
“When he first came to Hong Kong and we galloped him, I thought that he was an elephant and not a horse,” Leung said with a smile. “He was a big horse with a big action and he was quite relaxed, he’d walk around like an elephant. He didn’t show too much ability in the mornings, but then at the trials, he started to show more and he was quite professional. And then, when he ran for the first time, he was very good – no longer an elephant!”
For 29-year-old Leung, though, it has been Pingwu Spark’s versatility this season that has allowed him to progress to Group company. He says that it has been most clear at his last two starts, when he has carried big weights to victory in Class 2 handicaps over 1400m.
