Caspar Fownes accelerated a familiar title push with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (3 December) as the four-time Hong Kong champion trainer edged to within three wins of Mark Newnham at the top of the standings.<\/p>
Fownes struck with Perfect General (132lb) in the Class 4 American Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1200m) under Vincent Ho before Joy Of Spring (129lb) triumphed under Ellis Wong in the Class 3 High Island Handicap (1800m) to leave Fownes with 20 wins for the season \u2013 three shy of Newnham (23) and one ahead of David Hayes (19).<\/p>
Hong Kong champion trainer in 2006\/07, 2008\/09, 2013\/14 & 2020\/21, Fownes had eight starters tonight and emerged with two wins, three seconds and a third to forge to the top of the Happy Valley table with 13 wins this season at the venue \u2013 two more than Danny Shum.<\/p>
Fownes derived plenty of satisfaction from Hong Kong International Sale graduate Perfect General\u2019s performance as the Zoustar gelding scored with plenty in hand.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been off for a long time so it was great for him to do that first-up. We certainly weren\u2019t helped by the draw (barrier 11) when it came out but he\u2019s a nice horse and we just decided to push on and make our own luck,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
\u201cThe key now is that they pull up well \u2013 if they do then you know you\u2019ve got a very good horse moving forward. I believe he\u2019s got what it takes to compete in the higher classes.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6661″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Brett Crawford continued an excellent debut season by notching his first double at Happy Valley as the South African continued to build impressive impetus.<\/p>
Crawford prevailed with Ninja Derby (132lb) under Lyle Hewitson in the Class 5 Tai Lam Chung Handicap (1800m) before Karis Teetan guided Genius Baby (124lb) to victory in the first section of the Class 4 Tai Tam Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
Boosting his tally of wins to eight in his maiden Hong Kong season, Crawford said: \u201cIt has obviously\u00a0been really good, I couldn\u2019t be happier \u2013 coming into a new place, new environment, obviously being given some nice support, which is key to anything.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s just nice to see that when the horses trial well, that they\u2019ve been running well. There\u2019s very few horses at the moment that have had me scratching my head, so long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>
Ninja Derby was given a brilliant front-running ride by Crawford\u2019s compatriot Hewitson.
\u201cToday, he (Ninja Derby) was given a good ride. He broke well, (Hewitson) put him in a great position, dictated the race and skipped at the right time \u2013 well done to him,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>
\u201cWith him going up in points now, he\u2019s proven that he can be competitive in Class 4 off bottom weight. I\u2019m sure there is no reason why he can\u2019t improve again. I think I will bring him back to the mile now.\u201d<\/p>
Genius Baby scored at his 10th attempt with Teetan weaving a late passage to atone for a luckless fifth at the city circuit on 19 November.<\/p>
\u201cLast time when he (Genius Baby) went for his run the gap closed up on him and broke his momentum. At Happy Valley, it\u2019s a difficult place to gain momentum once it\u2019s broken,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>
\u201cToday, from a good draw (barrier five), Karis had him in a good position but turning for home, he still got into a little bit of a tight gap, which I think between Karis and the horse it was very brave to get through and he quickened up really well to win a nice race.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6660″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Preparing to contest next Wednesday\u2019s (10 December) LONGINES International Jockeys\u2019 Championship at Happy Valley, Hollie Doyle piloted Manfred Man\u2019s Double Win to victory in the Class 4 Shek Lei Pui Handicap (2200m) \u2013 the six-year-old\u2019s second success in a row under the visiting jockey.<\/p>
\u201cHe was like a different horse \u2013 he jumped and travelled like a good thing,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cLast time, he was behind the bridle and lazy, whereas today he just travelled and did it very smoothly.<\/p>
\u201cHe hit a bit of a flat spot at the 400 (metres) but stayed on well. He really surprised me. He was very fresh beforehand, which was a good sign.\u201d<\/p>
Richard Kingscote secured his second win of the season when outsider Blue Illusion (119lb) prevailed at 97\/1 in the Class 3 Plover Cove Handicap (1000m).<\/p>
\u201cWe had a smooth run from barrier two and we are able get a lovely sit, he travelled through the race well and he responded well in the straight,\u201d Kingscote said. \u201c(Wins) are not easy to come by, but delighted.\u201d<\/p>
Cody Mo slotted his 10th win of the campaign when Matthew Chadwick drove California Blitz (125lb) to a short-head win over Know At Heart (118lb) in the second section of the Class 4 Tai Tam Handicap (1200m) while Jimmy Ting\u2019s Golden Friendship (134lb) finished solidly under Zac Purton to break through at his 11th start to win 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=”6658″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Caspar Fownes accelerated a familiar title push with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (3 December) as the four-time Hong Kong champion trainer edged to within three wins of Mark Newnham at the top of the standings.Fownes struck with Perfect General (132lb) in the Class 4 American Club Challenge… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6659,"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\/6657"}],"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=6657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6663,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6657\/revisions\/6663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-million-challenge\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}