Reprising his role as \u2018King of the Valley,\u2019 Caspar Fownes vaulted to the top of the 2025\/26 Hong Kong trainers\u2019 championship with a quartet at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (17 September).<\/p>
Hong Kong\u2019s most successful trainer at the track, Fownes boosted his career tally of wins at Happy Valley to 633 after combining with Ellis Wong to post a race-to-race double with Silver Spurs and Mighty Commander before Hugh Bowman triumphed on Rocket Spade, with Harry Bentley delivering a fourth success on Lo Rider.<\/p>
\u201cHalf the card, so very happy \u2013 it\u2019s a good night. I thought I would have a good night coming here tonight but racing is racing. You always need some luck,\u201d Fownes said after talented Lo Rider (121lb) claimed a PP Bonus of HK$3 million by winning the Class 2 Shek O Handicap (1650m) to crown a stellar meeting for the four-time Hong Kong champion trainer.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m very happy, especially for the last winner (Lo Rider) because the owner (Caspar Fownes Trainer Syndicate) gets a big bonus and the horse is first time at Happy Valley, so it was nice to see a great effort. So, all in all, it\u2019s been a lovely night.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m very proud of him and he\u2019s a chance to continue on. He performed very well last season and ran a close fourth in the (BMW Hong Kong) Derby (2000m) and a lot of his runs were very close and obviously in Hong Kong when you have your second season, you can start to settle into the system, especially being a European horse, and progress \u2013 and he\u2019s doing that.\u201d<\/p>
Formerly known as Sharinay, the Harzand gelding won twice in Ireland before transferring to Fownes\u2019 stable.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6425″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Jubilant after firing in a brace, Wong said: \u201cIt\u2019s good, especially to have these winners for Caspar, he gives me a lot of support. Both horses ran well, so it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>
Silver Spurs (128lb) justified Fownes\u2019 patience with victory in the Class 5 Chung Hom Kok Handicap (1000m). The Charm Spirit gelding suffered a lung infection in 2024 and pastern injuries earlier in 2025 before prevailing at his 11th start.<\/p>
Wong angled Mighty Commander (128lb) away from the fence to have the Artie Schiller gelding in a striking position mid-race before surging to his second win in 16 Hong Kong starts.<\/p>
Rocket Spade (127lb) continued to build a strong record at Happy Valley with victory in the Class 3 Community Chest Cup Handicap (1650m), finishing stoutly to overhaul Star Contact (128lb) and Another Zonda (125lb).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6426″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Karis Teetan opened his winning account for the season with the spectacular success of Forever Folks (121lb) in the Class 4 Lido Handicap (1800m). A clear last early after missing the start, the Hong Kong International Sale graduate sprinted sharply in the straight on his first start for Danny Shum.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get the first win, it took a couple of meetings. I was close in a couple of races, but you have to be strong mentally in Hong Kong and always try to look forward,\u201d Teetan said.<\/p>
\u201cThe owner, Mr So, has been a great supporter and it always helps when you get that support. When the horse caught the field and I pulled him out at the 600m, he was travelling but I thought the straight would be too short.<\/p>
\u201cBut he was extending and in the straight, I always thought he would get there.\u201d<\/p>
Teetan and Shum also struck with Master Champion (135lb) in the first section of the Class 4 Hoi Mei Handicap (1200m) before Lyle Hewitson and Mark Newnham prevailed with progressive King Lotus (135lb) to land the third section of the Class 4 Hoi Mei Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Superb Capitalist (135lb) enhanced his imposing Happy Valley record with his sixth win at the course, clinching the Class 3 Repulse Bay Handicap (1000m) for Tony Cruz and Matthew Chadwick.<\/p>
The six-year-old has two wins at 1000m and four at 1200m as well as another victory over 1200m at Sha Tin with tonight\u2019s success taking the gelding\u2019s prizemoney beyond HK$10 million.<\/p>
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (21 September).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6424″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Reprising his role as \u2018King of the Valley,\u2019 Caspar Fownes vaulted to the top of the 2025\/26 Hong Kong trainers\u2019 championship with a quartet at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (17 September).Hong Kong\u2019s most successful trainer at the track, Fownes boosted his career tally of wins at Happy Valley to 633… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6427,"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\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6422"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6428,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6422\/revisions\/6428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}