Socrates is pipped at the post as Million Challenge ends in a dead heat
After months of promising nothing but anticlimax, the Smartone Vodafone Happy Valley Million Challenge produced a stunning denouement last night as the Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained Easy snatched his fourth straight win to claim a dead-heat with Socrates.
The Caspar Fownes-trained Socrates had led the series for months, winning four races on the Valley circuit in the first half of the season.
But, as Easy's point score climbed in recent weeks with three straight wins, Fownes was forced to run Socrates at last night's final meeting of the contest needing only a first-four placing in the sixth race to secure the HK$650,000 first prize.
It didn't come. Socrates was caught off the track from a wide draw on the treacherous C rail placement and finished last to Silver Sun, leaving the door ajar for Easy to claim half the result in the Challenge only if he could win the following race.
Ridden to perfection by Howard Cheng Yue-tin, Easy didn't quite win as his name would suggest, but after a struggle down the straight with Friendly Gains, he finally drew away to win by half a length and claim a share of the HVMC.