Lady Luck smiles on Tsui as Bauhinia and Turf Winner come good
A little bit of luck goes a long way and Me Tsui Yu-sak reckoned Golden Bauhinia caught a rainbowful in the opening event yesterday as the first leg of the trainer's double.
And Tsui wasn't just talking about the remarkable performance of the runner-up, Wasabisabi (Matthew Chadwick), who must rate as the unlucky runner of the season - because the excitement of the race started well before that.
The heavily supported second favourite, Successful Era, became trapped after getting down and trapped in the barriers and was thrashing his legs around everywhere, endangering the horses around him.
'Golden Bauhinia was in the next stall and I was worried that he was going to get kicked, but by luck, more than anything else he escaped,' Tsui said.
Successful Era was ultimately scratched, with the Jockey Club having to return some HK$19.7 million worth of investments on the second favourite, but if that should have made Wasabisabi's job easier, it didn't.
Clobbered when the gates opened by Classa For Ever drawn next to him, Wasabisabi then struggled to muster speed and the odds-on favourite was almost 10 lengths off the lead in last place at the 500m mark before hurtling home for second.
'Golden Bauhinia had some luck, but I do think he has ability and is still quite green. he will be much better suited by 1,400m, but I put him in this race because the 1,000m races at this end of the season look to be a bit weaker,' Tsui said.
Tsui followed up with young sprinter Turf Winner (Jeff Lloyd), who did the job in tradesman-like style in the second race and looks to have a future.
'I had worked him leading up to this and I told Me he had worked very well,' Lloyd said.
'When he drew an inside gate, I was always pretty confident he would run well. He's only a three-year-old so there's every reason to think he will be stronger and better next season, too.'
Tsui took the hood off Turf Winner yesterday after observing improvement.
'Initially, I put the hood on him to help him relax at his first start and left it on, but I felt he had improved and become more settled lately so I took it off today and he has handled everything well,' Tsui said.