National Day Cup glory at Sha Tin yesterday went to a relieved Glen Boss and long-serving local trainer Alex Wong Siu-tan as doughty fighter Score won the feature race and floored punters in the process. Wong led the way on a great day for local trainers, who captured nine of the 10 races. Score scored at odds of 45-1 with the race picture complicated by the fact that trainer Wong had also supplied the 5-1 third favourite in Team Honour, on whom Robbie Fradd finished a well-beaten seventh. Hot favourite Decouvert (2-1), bidding for his third straight win, went from looking like a winner to being beaten in a few strides as a gamble by Boss on sticking to the fence paid off. It was the first win of the season for Boss, here until March as a Club jockey, and Wong, who said: 'I wanted to win a race on National Day but it does not always work out the way you want it in this game. I don't let it worry me and now I have had a win.' Boss had only one horse behind him in the Classes One and Two, 1,800-metre event when the field swung for home. It was a compact field, however, and quite a number were forced to make their runs wide. The canny Australian, who has not had that many winning chances, was able to take advantage of a couple of gaps late and gutsy Score did the rest. 'There wasn't really anywhere else to go but I was happy enough to be where I was. Score was moving well and the main thing was that he really took it up when I asked him,' he said. 'It's a thrill to win a big race at any time and this is clearly a special day. It is also good to be off the mark.' Champion trainer David Hayes, who had a frustrating afternoon, saw Triumphant Feeling (12-1), ridden by capable maximum claimer Howard Y.T. Cheng, surge through late to make a determined challenge. But Score fights well and Boss was at his most vigorous and the combined effort saw them prevail by the minimum margin, with Astimonti (12-1), confirming that he is now back to early first-season form, two lengths further back in third place. Decouvert finished fifth but had seemed to be going very well in the run and was poised on straightening. But there was little there when Brett Doyle asked for the required effort and, all in all, it was a flat performance. The other feature race on the entertaining programme was the Hong Kong Country Club Challenge Cup, held over from last Sunday's abandoned meeting, and there was little relief for punters. French ace Eric Saint-Martin produced another gem of a ride to land 30-1 shot Handbag Dragon as the shock winner of the Classes One and Two longer sprint. The Peter Ho-trained four-year-old had drawn the extreme outside, which is usually the kiss of death, but Saint-Martin managed to get the winner travelling only a horse's width out and handily off the pace when they were coming to the home turn. Flamenco Star (3-1 favourite) still looked the one as he had seemingly coasted to the front under Fradd and was clear on straightening. However, he did not open up a gap when asked for his effort and was easily collared by Handbag Dragon and Feel Legend (10-1), who was a half length from the winner in a good effort under Roger K.H. Yu. Felix Coetzee continued in the form that suggests he is going to have a major say in the outcome of this year's jockeys' championship with a winning double to take his tally to nine wins. Coetzee, whose retainer with Tony Cruz has got off to a dream start, landed New Asians (7-1) an impressive winner of the Class Three fourth event and then took the nightcap for Cruz on Aggressive Dragon (14-1). It is always easy with hindsight but Aggressive Dragon, who has run and won some hot races in his day, was over the odds. Coetzee overcame the obvious disadvantage of a 13 draw at 1,200 metres - as he so frequently does - to take the Classes One and Two event by a head from Fastest Star (7-1), with surprise packet Alf (12-1) a neck further back third just ahead of game Triple Expresso (15-1). The lustre went off Toy Warrior (5-2 favourite) who was given every chance by Brett Doyle but failed to see it through. Toy Warrior had no harder a run than the winner and is almost half his age so disappointment in the Andy T.W. Leung camp would be easy to understand. Coetzee said: 'Aggressive Dragon fought on well and that was the clincher while I think New Asians is a very nice type of young horse.'
