Ho enjoys a Shiny Day as he completes treble

Peter Ho Leung came to the track confident of a win - and maybe even two - but he admitted that victory with outsider Shiny Day was way beyond his expectations and simply the result of a comedy of errors behind the front-runner.

Shiny Day went off at better than 50-1 under an assured ride from apprentice Alvin Ng Ka-chun, and gave Ho a treble after well-fancied pair Solar Boy and Todos Con Suerte had scored earlier.

"This was a funny race - so many jockeys did the wrong thing, they made all of the mistakes and my horse got an easy lead," Ho said.

"This was a perfectly run race for one horse - and that was mine - and nothing went right for anyone else."

For Ng the breakthrough came as welcome relief after he had endured 30 winless rides to start the term. "I cannot control everything - and I feel I have been riding well, but it is still a nice feeling to get my first winner," he said. "That's just racing, it can be all about luck."

Ng also revealed he had sought some advice from Ben So Tik-hung on how best to ride Shiny Day.

"Ben usually rides the horse and he told me it was all about just getting him to the front and getting into rhythm - he has a big stride and he is a tough horse. In the straight he just won't let anyone past."

Ho said Shiny Day - who now has a record of six wins from 27 starts - had enough versatility to be able to absorb a ratings rise and stay competitive in the short term.

"He goes well at Happy Valley and we will look for an 1,800m race there," he said.

The winner Ho did expect was Solar Boy, a seven-year-old deep in Class Five that gave So the first leg of a winning double.

Solar Boy had been scheduled to run in a 1,200m all-weather track contest at the abandoned meeting on September 22. Another aspect of Solar Boy's win that was not part of an original plan was for the horse to lead. "I actually told Ben to look for cover, but the horse we thought would lead, Fantasy And Gold, missed the start - it turned out well for us," Ho said. "He won off 33 today and I hope he stays in Class Dive, he can probably win another race if he does."