Pierre Ng continued an impressive start to the 2023\/24 season and extended his lead in the Hong Kong trainers\u2019 championship with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (8 November) as 12-time champion trainer John Size moved to within one win of reaching the 1,500-win milestone in Hong Kong.<\/p>
Ng took his tally to 16 wins with the successes of Spicy So Smart and Fortune Warrior to lead Danny Shum (14), Francis Lui (13), Frankie Lor (13) and Caspar Fownes (12) as the young horseman continued to build momentum.<\/p>
\u201cThe horses are running brilliantly. Hopefully it stays that way,\u201d Ng said after Spicy So Smart landed the Class 5 Big Wave Bay Handicap (1200m) under Antoine Hamelin and Fortune Warrior\u2019s clinched the Class 4 Middle Bay Handicap (1000m) for Karis Teetan.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6348″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Ng\u2019s advance came as Benno Yung\u2019s talented sprinter Son Pak Fu showcased his quality with victory in the Class 2 Stanley Handicap (1200m) under Jerry Chau, narrowly denying Size his 1,500th Hong Kong win.<\/p>
Having only his 16th start, Son Pak Fu was rearward throughout but stormed late to cut down Size\u2019s Bundle Of Charm by a head.<\/p>
\u201cThe draw (barrier nine) was not 100 percent right and also the situation in the race was terrible, so lucky he carried a light weight (119lb) and Jerry was patient,\u201d Yung said. \u201cIf he rushed and went quickly early, it would not have worked out.\u201d<\/p>
Douglas Whyte continued his outstanding streak at Happy Valley with Happy Trio\u2019s success in the second section of the Class 4 Chung Hom Kok Handicap (1200m) under Luke Ferraris. With a treble at the city circuit last week and tonight\u2019s success, Whyte has posted eight of his 11 winners so far this season at Happy Valley.<\/p>
\u201cHe (Happy Trio) would have been unlucky to lose, he had to get across from a wide barrier (nine) and he\u2019s been racing very true to form and he\u2019s done a good job,\u201d 13-time champion jockey Whyte said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s taken time to mature and develop and he\u2019s come a long way \u2013 he\u2019s a better horse this season.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
David Hall is hopeful Gallant Hero (135lb) can cope with the transition to Class 3 after the Hong Kong International Sale graduate weaved through a narrow gap to clinch the Class 4 Community Chest Cup Handicap (1650m) for Brenton Avdulla.<\/p>
\u201cHe really stamped himself as a horse to follow last season, putting three (wins) together,\u201d Hall said of the five-year-old. \u201cI think mentally he\u2019s getting a bit better and a lot big stronger as and with that win under his belt, it will hold him in good stead to go up to Class 3.\u201d<\/p>
Size bagged his first Happy Valley winner of the season when Zac Purton piloted A Americ Te Specso to victory in the first section of the Class 4 Chung Hom Kok Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
The Per Incanto gelding\u2019s triumph left Size with 1,499 Hong Kong wins overall, a figure bettered only by John Moore\u2019s 1,735.<\/p>
Nine-year-old veteran Right Honourable posted his seventh Hong Kong win to give Mark Newnham his fourth success of the campaign with victory in the Class 5 Deep Water Bay Handicap (1650m) under Matthew Chadwick.<\/p>
\u201cWe’ve started to build a little bit of momentum now. I’ve got a few of the newer horses coming up and trialling shortly, so as long as we building a bank with these ones, hopefully the second half of the season\u00a0the new horses will come through,\u201d the Australian said.<\/p>
Angus Chung celebrated his first win as a five-pound claiming apprentice when Beauty Glory led virtually throughout to land the Class 3 Shek O Handicap (1200m) for Tony Cruz. Chung, 27, had his claim reduced from seven pounds after notching his 45th winner at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 November).<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Saturday (11 November).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6347″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Pierre Ng continued an impressive start to the 2023\/24 season and extended his lead in the Hong Kong trainers\u2019 championship with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (8 November) as 12-time champion trainer John Size moved to within one win of reaching the 1,500-win milestone in Hong Kong.Ng took… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6342"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6352,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6342\/revisions\/6352"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}