The Sha Tin crowd held its collective breath after Chad Schofield and Hard Ball Get crashed to the ground in a sickening fall in the straight in the last race but, amazingly, both horse and rider walked away from it. Schofield was badly winded but soon on his feet and walked back to the jockeys’ room after an ambulance ride to the winning post. Stewards later found fault with Gerald Mosse for the incident and the French star copped his second careless riding ban for the meeting and his sixth for the season. Mosse had earlier been suspended for three days, beginning immediately, and fined HK$50,000 after being found guilty of careless riding on Ruminare in race four, and stewards added another seven-day ban to that for Mosse’s role in the fall when he rode Wah May Friend. The veteran will be out from April 4 until April 28, meaning he will miss the Audemars QE II Cup meeting but will return for the Champions Mile. Mosse was not the only jockey to earn the ire of stewards, Alvin Ng Ka-chun also suspended for 3 days for his ride on Silver Gatsby in race four. Alan Aitken
Joao Moreira brings up a century of winners in record time
Joao Moreira was celebrating after breaking his own record for the fastest century of winners in a Hong Kong racing season yesterday, but the Brazilian rider admitted to being surprised he had reached the milestone. “I thought I was still on 99 wins! I had no idea,” he quipped after steering Ricky Yiu Poon-fai’s Little Dragon to victory in a Class Three on the dirt, his second winner after earlier scoring on John Moore’s Derby aspirant Helene Paragon. “I was lucky to get on Little Dragon, I was meant to ride Easy Hedge for John Size but when he came out, Ricky quickly offered me the ride on his horse and it all worked out.” Last season, Moreira reached 100 wins in mid-April before eventually reaching 145 victories – a mark that looks under threat this term. Andrew Hawkins
Paul O’Sullivan admits Jolly Jolly lucky to win after entering with queries
Zac Purton rounded off his “John Moore day” by returning to a more familiar provider in Paul O’Sullivan and taking the last race with Jolly Jolly to rack up four wins for the day. Jolly Jolly led throughout to take his third win from 10 starts but he is headed for a short rest after going into the race with some question marks over him as far as his handler was concerned. “To be honest, I didn’t think he was at his best coming into this,” said O’Sullivan after the win. “He’s won three and finished second three times from seven runs this campaign so he’s doing a terrific job, but he’d had a couple of gut busters lately in defeat. His body weight was down 21 pounds and I felt his work had slipped a little bit too. He got away with it but I think now’s the time to give him some time at Beas River and a bit of a freshen up before he races again.” Alan Aitken
Gear change all the difference for Tonyboy as he finally breaks through
Keith Yeung Ming-lun said a gear change has turned Tonyboy into a different horse after Benno Yung Tin-pang’s sprinter finally broke through for a first local win at start 19. It wasn’t as if Tonyboy’s previous trainers, Derek Cruz and Tony Millard, hadn’t tried a gear change or two themselves, with blinkers, cheekpieces and visors all used to varying degrees previously, but it seems Yung putting a visor back on last start, where he was beaten by a nose, has finally brought about a more genuine effort. “He concentrates more and is easier to ride with the visor on,” Yeung said after the win. “Before, he was a bit too laid back, he wasn’t giving everything, but now he is doing everything automatically.” Favourite backers took a major hit in the race as 1.8 top pick My Darling never looked likely after settling at the tail from his wide gate, while there looked to be a hard luck story for Jolly Banner who charged home into third. Michael Cox
