Unheralded Sunny Fay passed the post as the final pin of a John Moore four-timer at Sha Tin and just kept running off into the sunset as the trainer announced his star sprinter, Not Listenin'tome, will take his place in the line-up next season.
Moore almost buried the lead as he discussed Sunny Fay's first win in 16 months with the media, almost forgetting to mention that the modest six-year-old would retire on this winning note and owner Matthew Wong Leung-pak, one of the trainer's longest-serving and successful stable clients, would replace him with Not Listenin'tome.
"That's it for Sunny Fay - he'll retire to Australia and we'll give him away as a hack," Moore said, then recounted that he had originally bought Not Listenin'tome as a yearling for Wong, but they had come to a different deal before the sprinter ever raced.
"I had Sunny Ying there and I liked him and Matthew wanted a potential Derby horse for last season, so we did a swap and I raced Not Listenin'tome in my ownership in Australia as a three-year-old."
Not Listenin'tome turns four in a month and stands on the edge of sprinting stardom after Group One placings during the last season in Australia, but Moore's plan now is to have the gelding here in December for the Longines Hong Kong Sprint.
"He'll start off with my brother Gary and he'll have a preparation there and then come for the international race and then we'll talk to the Jockey Club about him staying here and he'll race in Matthew's colours," Moore said.
The win by Sunny Fay rounded out Moore's third four-win haul of the season, though it was no help to him in the championship race after he fell well behind in recent meetings.
Moore had opened up with Kynam (Derek Leung Ka-chun), after a successful change of tactics on the three-year-old, added Smart Man under Tommy Berry in the featured Reunification Cup then Harbour Master (Joao Moreira) made it three. But with Sunny Fay (Leung) so long out of the winner's circle, Moore wasn't expecting a great deal from him and his retirement was waiting, win, lose or draw.
"He found the 1,400m too far the other day so back to 1,200m was a plus but I wasn't thinking he could win," Moore said. "He didn't seem to have it in him any more, so winning one before he goes is a real bonus."
Stewards took a close interest in Kynam's role reversal, the three-year-old having become better known as a run-on horse this season but sooled to the lead from his outside draw and controlling the race on Tuesday.
"The stewards had me in but I pointed out that Kynam had won from the front last season and from behind this season, so he has shown that he is versatile," Moore said.
"There didn't look to be a lot of speed, Kynam usually jumps well and the way this track has been helping on-pace runners, I thought it would be detrimental to his chances to go back."
It was Kynam's third win from 15 starts, a reasonable record, but Moore said it was something of a relief to see him win again.
"He's been a bit of a 'gunna' horse, and hasn't quite delivered what he might have," the trainer said. "But he's still got plenty of greenness in his make-up. With that in mind, there still might be some more improvement in him next season as a four-year-old."
