Nearing 100 career wins in Hong Kong, championship-leading trainer Mark Newnham is hoping to convert on Wednesday (3 December) at Happy Valley when Lunar Dash (135lb) takes his place in the second section of the Class 4 Tai Tam Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Expatriate trainer Newnham has adapted to Hong Kong racing easily, posting 98 winners in the city after arriving ahead of the 2023\/24 season. He saddles seven chances tomorrow evening, led by lightly-raced sprinter Lunar Dash\u2019s pairing with Zac Purton.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been consistent this season. He gets around the Valley well; he\u2019s done well since his last start, but he\u2019s come up with a difficult barrier (nine) again,\u201d Newnham said. \u201cHe lost focus in the straight the other day \u2013 he wanted to run out under pressure, so hopefully this (first-time cheek pieces) straightens him up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>
Street Boss gelding Lunar Dash won first-up prior to finishing second behind Run Run Smart on 5 November. Newnham\u2019s four-year-old has one win from four starts, while the trainer has an unmatched 23 wins this season, four clear of nearest rival David Hayes (19).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cThere was a lot of interference in the race going into the first turn (last start), of which, he didn\u2019t suffer a lot of that, but he did race fairly tight for a fair distance. He\u2019s only a lightly raced horse, so he didn\u2019t cope particularly well,\u201d Newnham said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Lunar Dash finishes second at Happy Valley.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Hollie Doyle is another readying for a busy night with six mounts, featuring Double Win (123lb) in the Class 4 Shek Lei Pui Handicap (2200m) for trainer Manfred Man.<\/p>
\u201cHe got up late last time around at Sha Tin. He\u2019s taking on Happy Valley this time, but he has a bit of form there in his first season here. He\u2019s up in distance by 200 metres as well, which will definitely help him \u2013 the further the better,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cManfred\u2019s been great \u2013 he\u2019s given me plenty of rides and plenty of support.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
Vincent Ho is aiming to maintain his momentum when he links with Hong Kong International Sale graduate Perfect General (132lb) in the Class 4 American Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1200m) for trainer Caspar Fownes.<\/p>
\u201cHe trialled really well. He jumped well and his early speed was lovely, and then he finished off very nicely. He\u2019s a nice horse to get on, for sure. Although the draw (11) isn\u2019t too ideal, but he does have the form there with good ability,\u201d Ho said. \u201cI remember I rode him into third once and he gave me a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>
Ho has 13 wins this season, headlined by five from his past 18 rides. The local ace is striking at 11.3% as he aims to climb the championship table.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6651″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Renowned for an association with champion Ambitious Dragon, Maxime Guyon began a short-term licence last Sunday (30 November) with five rides, and he gears up for a further six tomorrow night at Happy Valley.<\/p>
\u201cThe first year I came to Hong Kong I won the Hong Kong Derby (2000m) with Ambitious Dragon (in 2011). It was amazing to win,\u201d Guyon said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a very long time since I last came to Hong Kong. I\u2019m really happy to come back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
Guyon, 36, is chasing a third HK$26 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) win on 14 December when he rides Sosie for the legendary Andre Fabre.<\/p>
\u201cI think I have a chance; I have Sosie. He has run really good twice in the Prix de l\u2019Arc de Triomphe (G1, 2400m). He has won two Group 1s this year, so he has amazing form and good ground is much better for him. He\u2019s very easy to ride, and we know Mr Fabre doesn\u2019t come for nothing,\u201d Guyon said.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (3 December) eight-race fixture at Happy Valley begins at 7.10pm with the Class 5 Lau Shui Heung Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6655″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Nearing 100 career wins in Hong Kong, championship-leading trainer Mark Newnham is hoping to convert on Wednesday (3 December) at Happy Valley when Lunar Dash (135lb) takes his place in the second section of the Class 4 Tai Tam Handicap (1200m).Expatriate trainer Newnham has adapted to Hong Kong racing easily, posting… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6652,"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\/6646"}],"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=6646"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6656,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6646\/revisions\/6656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}