Whyte turns on the magic to land double on low-grade runners
Champion jockey Douglas Whyte had to make do with some honest lesser lights but came away with a double on Liverbird and Lucky Red.
The Gary Ng Ting-keung-trained Lucky Red led all the way for his fifth win up the straight course, a feat he had also managed for Whyte first time out 12 months ago.
'He goes well fresh, I worked him the other morning and he went well and he's just a good bread-and-butter horse who likes this trip. Sometimes he can get too wound up and over-race but he relaxed pretty well,' said Whyte (pictured), who admitted the late scratching of odds-on favourite Royal Flush had opened the way for Lucky Red.
'Well, he had his day today, didn't he? When the favourite came out, it didn't look that strong a race anymore and Lucky Red was at his best.'
And so was Liverbird for Danny Shum Chap-shing to open his season's scoring in the Class Five opening event.
The eight-year-old had failed to pick up his usual victory during last season, despite some consistent efforts at the bottom of Class Four, and was therefore dipping into the cellar grade for the first time in 73 starts but emerged with a win of some authority.
'In the past he's been more of a second or third-up horse than a first-up performer so we gave him the trial the other day just to tighten him up,' said Whyte.
'The race couldn't have broken better for him, though, and it was quite a cosy victory at the finish.'
