Australian Ethan Brown celebrated a red-letter day by claiming the first of three Hong Kong titles on Saturday, with Harry Bentley’s season coming to an end after breaking his arm in a nasty fall in Sha Tin.
Six days after his first Sha Tin win, Brown tested Country Dancer and Endued for champion trainer John Size and the David Hall-trained Prestige Hall.
“It’s not true, it hasn’t sunk in yet. I thought I came here with a good book of riders and often, if that’s the case, you’re going average, but today was great,” Brown said.
“It feels good. It took me a while to get the monkey out here (in Sha Tin) but to come back the next week and hit a couple means a lot.
“I’m getting really good support and I feel like things are starting to fall into place. I’m getting the direction of the race here and it’s probably been proven in the last two races, but the main thing is to ride the right horse and get the right support from the right trainers.”
The 11-time Group One winner has now ridden six winners in his three months in town, and was delighted to score at Another Australian.
“As soon as I got off (Country Dancer), I said ‘I’ve always wanted to ride a winner for you’ and I couldn’t be happier to do it today. It was a great feeling, a real honor,” Brown said.
Bentley was taken to the Union Hospital on Saturday night after being bumped by Smiling Falcon in the sixth race when Darci’s son Brahma suffered a leg injury in the 950m race.
Jockey Club vets immediately treated the smiling Falcon at the scene but he could not be saved.
Elsewhere on Saturday’s card, Francis Lui Kin-wai joined Brown with a triple courtesy of Meaningful Dragon, Superb Spirit and Baby Sakura.
Superb Spirit went on to win the series with a convincing victory in the Grade Four Anser Handicap (1,200m) under champion jockey Zac Purton.
Pulled close by Island Buddy, Purton was able to drop straight on the starter’s heels before getting confused one place back when Lean Flyer took the lead. The race appeared close to 300 meters for the heavily backed favourite, who went through the gap in the straight to easily win by a length and a quarter over the unchanged Lucrative Eight.
“Obviously he drew the right gate (at two hurdles) to get a decent run, he was bottled up a little bit and had to process a little bit of what was going on and get his head out and when he let go, he let himself go well,” Purton said.
Lui is excited to have such an exciting prospect on his hands, and looks forward to tilting the Quadrennial Series Classic next year.
“He’s a good horse – he’s got a lot of potential. He’s only three years old and he’s only had a few races; he looks like he’s getting better. I think he’ll have a break now, he’s a four-year-old streak horse. Zac said he’s got a lot of potential, he said if he can handle more distance, I’m sure he’s got a good chance of winning more races,” Lui said.
Baby Sakura improved her record to three wins from six starts when she took the Grade Three Owl Handicap (1,400m), keeping faint hopes alive in the trainers’ championship. Well ridden by Vincent Ho Chak-yiu, he was placed in the box seat before finding a gap and driving to close by three quarters of a length on Super Express.
The first of Lui’s three races came courtesy of Meaningful Dragon in the Grade Four Swan Handicap (1,400m), securing his third career win and second of the season. Working in front to sit outside the leader, James Orman was able to get away from Voyage Boss to take and hold on from the late charge of the heavily backed Gorgeous Victory by a short head.
Superb Spirit scored twice for Purton after an early win on Dennis Yip Chor-hong’s Mega Captain, while David Hayes chipped in with Soleil Fighter and exciting starter Jedi Spurs.
Soleil Fighter took the Grade Two Peacock (1,600m), leading with a well-judged pace from apprentice Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu, who closed all the way and kicked hard to close by half a length on Beauty Alliance.
“I asked Nichola to let the horse run today and he did a fantastic job. This is a great horse, he’s a champion at Happy Valley, and now he’s winning at Sha Tin – I wish I had 10 of them,” Hayes said.
Hayes will now start Sea The Moon for a Grade One race over a mile on July 12 at Sha Tin.
“That’s the race we were aiming for. If he ran badly today, he was going on holiday, but I think I’ll give him one more because he’s in good shape – and I’ll leave Nichola and maybe she can do it again,” Hayes said.
Jedi Spurs proved to be one of the best Griffins so far when he brought his trial form on race day, beating the opposition by four-and-a-half lengths – done hard and in a fast time – in the Sunbird Plate (1,000m) under Brenton Avdulla.
“He’s done everything so easily in his life and to run at that time, in these conditions – he can be really good. You couldn’t do a better game than that. The opposition wasn’t very good, but the time was there and the amount he won just excites me,” Hayes said.
“If it was dry, the time would not have surprised me, but in the rain … he crossed the track beautifully.”
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