Lo Rider (125lb) took a big step towards confirming his potential with a dazzling first-up win last month, and on Wednesday night (15 October) Caspar Fownes\u2019 four-year-old Harzand gelding is aiming to repeat the dose in a quality HK$3.12 million Class 2 Lei Yue Mun Handicap (1800m) at Happy Valley.<\/p>
A high-quality import from Ireland, where he was known as Sharinay and was a two-time winner at Cork and the Curragh for His Highness the Aga Khan IV, Lo Rider displayed plenty of promise throughout his debut seven-run campaign in Hong Kong last season, headlined by a brave fourth behind Cap Ferrat in last March\u2019s HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) at Sha Tin.<\/p>
Scoring by three quarters of a length when resuming in Class 2 over 1650m at Happy Valley on 17 September, Lo Rider \u2013 rated 89 and boasting earnings of HK$7.05 million from eight appearances in Hong Kong, China \u2013 is one of Fownes\u2019 most exciting horses and the four-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer (2006\/07, 2008\/09, 2013\/14 & 2020\/21) is hoping the galloper can make further headway tomorrow night.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cHe arrived back on Saturday (11 October) from Conghua. He looks extremely well, very healthy in the coat, and he seems to be a happy horse,\u201d Fownes said. \u201cWe\u2019re stretching out an extra 150 (metres) this week, which should be very beneficial for him, you would think, especially after what he did last prep.<\/p>
\u201cI hope (he can reach a 100-plus rating). He does a few things wrong, he\u2019s a little bit of a box walker (unsettled) when he comes back here, but we\u2019ve got him to chill out, which is good. Apart from that he\u2019s been really good and he looks very healthy \u2013 that\u2019s the main thing, and he\u2019s in a good headspace.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Lo Rider returns in style under Harry Bentley last month.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Wednesday\u2019s nine-furlong clash sees Encountered (128lb), runner-up behind Lo Rider last start, reoppose, while Chill Chibi (133lb), Californiatotality (130lb), Helene Feeling (128lb), La City Blanche (124lb), Telecom Fighters (124lb), Speed Dragon (123lb) and Winning Dragon (120lb) feature. Harry Bentley rides Lo Rider again this week from barrier nine following their success from a favourable gate one first-up.<\/p>
\u201c(Brett) Crawford\u2019s horse (Encountered) is in there, who chased us last start. You have to respect him, but my horse presents well. I\u2019m very excited because these types of horses have the opportunity to get into the triple figures (rating) and if you do then you\u2019ve done your job. Anything after that is cream,\u201d said Fownes, who also saddles Jumbo Legend (121lb) in the contest from barrier three with apprentice Ellis Wong up.<\/p>
A ground-making fifth to Lo Rider last start, seven-year-old Jumbo Legend has won seven times at Happy Valley over 1200m (twice), 1650m (three times), 1800m (once) and 2200m (once). Fownes has nine wins from 62 starters through the first 10 race meetings, while an in-form Jamie Richards is closely nipping at his heels on seven victories from 42 starters. Mark Newnham leads the title race with 11 wins.<\/p>
Richards, 36, has made an immediate impact in the 2025\/26 racing season, headlined by the heroics of Four-Year-Old Classic Series\u2019 possible Bulb General \u2013 successful twice this term. Richards saddles four chances at Happy Valley tomorrow night, including La Forza (131lb), who takes aim at the Class 3 Hok Yuen Handicap (1200m) from gate 11 with championship-leading rider Zac Purton engaged.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6487″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cHe is racing well. He\u2019s just been misbehaving a little bit in the barriers, so we\u2019ve been doing some work to rectify that. I think now that he\u2019s a year older and a bit stronger, that 1200 (metres) should be no problem for him. He trialled well recently after missing the kick and he heads there in good shape,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>
A three-time winner at Sha Tin, La Forza has raced once at Happy Valley for third last month behind Superb Capitalist. The Toronado gelding trialled recently at Sha Tin, missing the kick behind an eye-catching Speed Dragon to finish eighth over 1200m on the dirt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cHe ran well there (Happy Valley) the other day off one very soft trial and he\u2019s come on for the run. Zac\u2019s feedback is that 1200 and 1400 (metres) should be no problem for him. We\u2019ll stay at Happy Valley for the moment but there\u2019s no reason why he can\u2019t return to Sha Tin and race over further,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>
Storm Rider (135lb), Super Infinity (124lb), Hayday (123lb), Loch Tay (123lb), King Miles (121lb), Super Legends (121lb), Lucky Xander (120lb), Lucky Planet (118lb), Thriving Brothers (118lb), Justifying (117lb) and The Revolution (117lb) make up the rest of the Class 3 field.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (15 October) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley commences at 6.40pm with the Class 5 Ngau Chi Wan Handicap (1650m).\u00a0<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6485″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Lo Rider (125lb) took a big step towards confirming his potential with a dazzling first-up win last month, and on Wednesday night (15 October) Caspar Fownes\u2019 four-year-old Harzand gelding is aiming to repeat the dose in a quality HK$3.12 million Class 2 Lei Yue Mun Handicap (1800m) at Happy Valley.A high-quality… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6488,"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\/6484"}],"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=6484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6490,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6484\/revisions\/6490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}