Being On The Pace At Shatin

With the first race having two fairies running in it – Fairy Boy and Fairy Dragon – we had to wonder if the day might have been better of playing with the pixies.

And when Epee De Hua was hard-ridden to lead from Barrier 12 in the Class 5 all-weather track for Matthew Chadwick, just kept going despite all the hard work and was the second time this season that the jockey and trainer Tony Millard have combined for a winner, we moaned out aloud how, it was going to be one of those days.

With the weather changing, there was a chill in the air along with a slight drizzle.

Eddie W M Lai deferred his suspension to ride today and we now know why: He won the second race easily on Sunny Smile which was having his second start for the season.

By then, two hot favourites had bit the dust. Brrrrr.

Thank goodness, we decided to wait for Race 3 to start looking at having a bet.

Our ears pricked up when before the race, Paddock Expert Jenny Chapman mentioned that “He looks a bit soft to me.”

We looked at each other, but she was talking about some horse. Or Clint Hutchison.

Backing up from Wednesday at HappyValley when ridden by Darren Beadman, the Caspar Fownes-trained Topping Light won with a leg in air and with Vincent C Y Ho on its back.

What a phenomenal record this horse has and a great one to own.

The 2 to 1 hot pot Dane Patrol struggled to run third and we have a few big question marks in our head about quite a few things in this race where horses were crowded, whips were knocked off hands and, all-in-all just one big mess of a race.

In Race 4, the first leg of the Triple Trio seemed to be a “charity race” for the new Sean Woods’ stable acquisition Maelstrom.

Ridden by one of our favourite jockeys in Brett Doyle, it just led from start to finish and looked like a different horse.

Elusive Prince was held up for a run, but Doyle had stolen the race.

One horse to follow out of this race: the newcomer Supreme Genki and which flew to take the fifth placing.

The other legs of the Triple Trio saw the favourites flop very badly.

3 to 1 favourite Baitiwu which won by six lengths on its last all-weather track outing almost came last.

Super Horse, the favourite in race 6, bombed the start and had no chance after that.

Instead, Jeff Lloyd won Race 5 by leading all the way on Fortune Winner, a winner at Happy Valley last Wednesday, while in Race 6 we saw Keith M L Yeung also leading all the way, this time on the Derek Cruz-trained Double Dragon and with Rock’n Typhoon not being able to even win this weak race.

We can hear the connections of this horse still banging their heads against the nearest wall.

As for Derek Cruz, pictured below with wife Angel and son Martin, he certainly has his stable firing on all cylinders.

While the Trackside team’s Brett Davis and Clint Hutchison reminisced about a romantic evening they spent together sipping pina coladas in Phuket, our eyes were taken by a very fetching looking lady in the paddock area.

We almost wanted to yell out, Fetch, baby, fetch and throw a stick her way.

Back to racing, despite being given a perfect ride by Zac Purton aboard the favourite in the John Size-trained Endless Luck in Race 7, it was plodding at the end and was over-hauled by Mark Du Plessis on Athenium giving trainer Sean Woods a double.

In a roughly run Race 8, the Tony Cruz-trained and Matthew Chadwick ridden Regency Luck won it quite easily holding off Derek K C Leung on Keen Wongchoy out wide.

The Stipes Report might make interesting reading.

Chadwick tried to steal the next race again on Penglai Xianzi by leading at all costs and we’re really unsure if this was one of his smartest rides.

It was eventually swamped by the John Size-trained Voile Rouge and which gave Tye Angland his first winner of the new season.

Angland is an extremely good jockey.

The big run of the race was from Algarve which flew home to come third.

We also would not give up on one of the newcomers in the race – New Greenfield.

The racing pattern for today’s races didn’t suit it.

The last race was an upset with Alex H W Lai winning aboard 30 to 1 shot Fionn’s Dragon for Danny C S Shum.

A certainty beaten was the Caspar Fownes-trained Best City.

Wherever Vincent C Y Ho tried to take him, he came up against road blocks – mainly led by Zac Purton on Quantum Power – and it literally flew for third.

It really should have won with BOTH legs in the air.

Keep following this horse.

At the end of the day, Matthew Chadwick took the riding honours despite a somewhat strange ride in Race 9, Sean Woods and Danny C S Shum came through with training doubles, Brett Prebble bowed out before serving a two-day suspension by coming up with a blank whereas Supreme Genki, Voile Rouge and our Best For Day – Best City – being horses we’d continue to follow.

Bring on Douglas Whyte to Hong Kong racing after his two-day suspension and in time for Happy Wednesday’s Oktoberfest meeting.

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