Invitation to ride in Japan consoles Saint-Martin
French rider Eric Saint-Martin was in pain at missing the winning ride on Red Pepper in yesterday's International Cup Trial but he had some good news on a winless day to ease the burden. With Douglas Whyte, Hong Kong's nominated representative for the World Super Jockey series in Hanshin, Japan, under suspension, Saint-Martin has been invited to replace him.
It has been a fast turnaround for the French rider, who returned only yesterday from a nine-meeting ban over his ride on Double Happiness in September and will now line up to represent Hong Kong on successive weekends - with evergreen stayer Indigenous in the Japan Cup next Sunday and then the Jockey Series on November 30 and December 1.
'They asked me if I would go and I am very happy to do it,' Saint-Martin said yesterday. 'I have ridden in Japan a number of times, but never in this series and it is a very prestigious competition.' Saint-Martin will miss two Sha Tin meetings with his commitments in Japan, next Sunday's important Chevalier Cup fixture and the following Sunday.
Although Saint-Martin and Eric Legrix missed out at Sha Tin yesterday, Olivier Doleuze and Gerald Mosse kept the strong French influence in Hong Kong racing alive with wins respectively on Good Fit for Derek Cruz and Champion Boy for Lawrie Fownes.
John Size crept to a clear lead on the trainer's table when Century Star (Shane Dye) continued the impressive turnaround in his record since joining the Australian's stable last season.
At one time a maiden after 25 starts, Century Star has now won at five of his seven runs for Size and gave Dye an armchair ride to score in the second division of the Pok Oi Cup yesterday in the manner of a horse who will be winning again next time.
'His trials and his work have been very good,' Dye said. 'He has been ready to race well for a while, but John again showed why he was champion trainer last season. He just waited and waited for exactly the right race before running him.' The win was Size's 16th for the season and took him clear of Francis Lui Kin-wai on 15.
Glyn Schofield's double yesterday began with his video study of Sugar And Spice's win for Felix Coetzee last season. Coetzee had won an all-weather event on the Geoff Lane-trained gelding in June after bringing him across from an outside gate and slipping up along the inside of runners in the final 50 metres.
Yesterday, Schofield had an inside draw on Sugar And Spice but gained confidence from the video to push him up the inside rail when the going got serious. 'When I saw we had the right gate, I came here pretty confident he would run well,' Lane said.
'I told Glyn he's an easy horse to handle and to make his run whenever he felt was the right time, but in the run I was a bit concerned that he was going to get boxed in. Glyn wasn't worried though. He said he was travelling very easily on the home turn and didn't try to come out because he'd seen that the horse will take a narrow gap and he waited on it.'
Trainer Ivan Allan and jockey Weichong Marwing missed out narrowly when Kalimantan was worried out of the second by Tony Millard's debutant Five Grains (Anton Marcus), but they made no mistake in the final race with Golden Years.
'It took me all day to do it, but I got it right in the end,' smiled Marwing. 'It's nice to go home with the last winner. You take a positive attitude home.'
And he had plenty of praise for Golden Years and his positive attitude as one of last season's big improvers racked up win number five and the first for the new term. 'He's a terrific 1,400 metre horse right now,' Marwing agreed. 'Right now, that's his ideal. But Golden Years is settling better now than he did and I have no doubt that he will get a mile as he matures.'
