Marwing moved by Happy victory
Weichong Marwing failed to meet his own modest quota for his brief Hong Kong stint that ended yesterday, but the South African couldn't help but be touched as he steered home Happy Kid in the fifth race.
Marwing had never ridden the Ricky Yiu Poon-fie-trained Happy Kid previously, but he had won on Mr Happy for owner Tang Wing-chuen during the time he spent here as a club jockey.
'I remembered the guy well and when I came out to the parade before the race today, I found out that he had passed away since I won on his horse that day,' Marwing said.
'His wife was there and she pointed to the ring on her finger and said, 'Don't worry, he's here with me still, so go out and ride us a winner'. I told her I'd do my very best to do just that and I got a real kick out of that win. When we took the photo, I'd swear there was a little tear in her eye.'
Marwing's brief time landed him eight wins - two short of his goal - but he had no complaints after a QEII Cup win on Mike de Kock-trained Irridescence was part of that tally. 'I thought 10 was a reasonable figure, but I missed a few meetings with suspensions and that probably stopped me getting to double figures,' he said. 'It was nice to be back but now it's back to South Africa and more hard work - I'm riding there on Wednesday.
'I don't know if Mike's team will be here for the December internationals, but I feel sure we'll be back for the QEII again if not.'
Robbie Fradd made his wait for the last day count in the right way when the David Hall-trained Swift Germania upset the favourites in the Good Tension Handicap, over 1,200 metres.
Fradd was making his return for just the one day after serving the six-meeting suspension he incurred on Healthy Fruits from the May 10 Happy Valley meeting.
On that occasion, stewards took exception to a decision the South African made in the home straight when he went to the leader's outside instead of its inside which cost that horse victory.
'Luckily, I was in front today,' Fradd quipped after the German-bred outsider scored a maiden Hong Kong win. 'It was a nice surprise. We'd been hoping for a win for the sake of his owners without being that confident, but the side winkers going on today seemed to make him more positive going forward early and in the end he did the job quite well.'
Trainer David Ferraris and jockey Anthony Delpech finished the season within sight of their first century of Hong Kong wins after the stable's late-season rally continued in the Noble Boy Handicap (1,600m).
Australian-bred Chater Silk (Delpech) defied Lucky Money to take his second win of the term after becoming a model of consistency once he got his act together after a few starts.
Ferraris' dramatic mid-season slump due to high liver enzyme levels in his horses caused by a flawed batch of canola oil has been well documented and his recovery has been quite remarkable.
Chater Silk's win gave Ferraris 96 all told for Hong Kong while Delpech is now sitting on 92 victories.
