Safety First maintains Yiu's high strike rate

Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fie continues to maintain a high strike rate this season and it is young, quality horses like Safety First who are helping him do it.

At 14.7 per cent winners to runners, only championship contender Paul O'Sullivan is keeping a better strike rate than Yiu, who is winning races at a rate just under 13 per cent.

It's a good job with a relatively small team and three-year-old Safety First (Danny Nikolic) took his record to eight starts for three wins this season when he triumphed in the Castle Peak Bay Handicap (1,600m) yesterday.

'I think he's a very nice young horse, but still a baby,' Yiu said. 'He still does a few things wrong in his races and I don't believe we will see him at his best until next season. He's probably done enough this season with three wins so I don't intend to give him many more races now and we'll give him a decent break.'

The staying bred son of Danasinga is somewhat deceptive, as he looks to idle when he hits the front in his races, but he does keep loping along to the finish.

He looked certain to be beaten by another promising young horse in Mutual Fun this time but kept finding enough to hold him off and Mainland Shuttle eventually passed Mutual Fun for second.

'There's no doubt that he'll handle longer and as he matures he will need it,' Yiu said. 'But while he is still learning, I'll be happy to keep him to the 1,600m.'