White Jade becoming a gem when it comes to winning cups
White Jade may not be the most frequent of winners, but he doesn't do things by halves and the chestnut made it two successes in two trophy races in the Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup (1,650m).
Having his first start on the dirt, White Jade (Darren Beadman) was able to find the rail in the lead - a huge advantage in yesterday's biased conditions on the surface - and fought back to win after looking beaten.
'I thought they had him at the 150m,' said John Moore. 'But he was in the best going near the rail and that probably helped and he was able to scramble in.'
White Jade's other win, over a year ago, was in the 1,400m Panasonic Cup, so the gelding has a knack with cup races, despite Moore admitting he is difficult to place.
'Strictly speaking, White Jade is an out-and-out sprinter, he isn't a miler at all,' he said. 'And it was a gamble putting him on the all-weather. His owner queried it with me when I said we would run here but the problem is that, at his level of rating, you have to try a few different things with White Jade to conjure up a win.'
Beadman said he didn't think White Jade would have held on to win without the track bias in his favour.
'Yes, he had the fast lane but he was giving weight to the horses chasing him and he really kept putting in,' he said.
'He seems to like when he can get forward and fight back rather than getting back and having to make ground as he did in some of his early runs. When he won the Panasonic Cup, it was similar in some ways to this win.'
Eddie Lai Wai-ming was suspended for two days for careless riding on Union's Star. He will start his suspension immediately.
