Tokyo-bound trainers get triple boost ahead of Sprinters Stakes
Caspar Fownes and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai have their eyes on a bigger prize in Tokyo tomorrow, but they warmed up in the right way yesterday, carving the National Day Cup meeting up between them with trebles.
Fownes (Green Birdie) and Yiu (Ultra Fantasy) have strong hopes of taking out the thick end of the prize in Tokyo's rich Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama - around US$1 million - and couldn't have prepared for it better at Sha Tin.
They shared the feature events, but each added two of the support card races.
Fownes won with Private Road (Darren Beadman) and Flying Supreme (Matthew Chadwick) as well as Lucky Nine, while Yiu saddled up Amityship (Ben So Tik-hung) and Charmgold (Alex Lai Hoi-wing) early in the day, before Sacred Kingdom's big win in the seventh.
'Well, we are talking about a different kind of horse there,' grinned Yiu. 'Charmgold has been finding the sprint races a bit short recently. He's a full brother to Viva Guy, who has won two races at the mile at Happy Valley, so I have tried him at that distance and I might again, but the 1,400m was just right today.
'Lucky Photo Frame ran along at a good speed and we got behind him and that suited Charmgold.'
Amityship was winning for only the second time, but the consistent five-year-old was back to his favourite 1,600m trip, and Yiu gave credit to apprentice So. 'A good draw, the weight allowance for Ben So and Amityship was well weighted, though he is only a Class Four horse,' he said.
'But I think Ben rode him very well and is really improving. Especially at the finish of the race, Darren Beadman's horse was going to run past him but Ben was able to get more out of him to win.'
Fownes has trained Private Road for only two starts now and his breakthrough win under Beadman didn't reflect the confidence of the betting market, which sent him out a very warm favourite before the neck margin of victory. 'I'm happy he's won his race and it was Darren's strength that made the difference in the end,' Fownes said.
'Private Road wasn't impressive, but I do think he'll run 1,800m or 2,200m even and I think he'll appreciate blinkers on to squeeze out what ability he has got. He's raced well at the bottom of Class Four before he came to me so there's no reason why he won't again.'
Quick starter
Caspar Fownes kicked clear in the trainers' standings with a hat-trick. He has this many winners: 14