Englishman Tony Culhane had his own determination and a sidelined Douglas Whyte to thank after smashing his Hong Kong duck with a double at Sha Tin yesterday. 'I'm really delighted,' he said after finishing a 45-ride losing streak on Tremendous Way, then returning just 30 minutes later for the feature Pearce Memorial Challenge Cup on Strong Scotch. 'It just shows, you get out of the game what you put in. I've worked hard for this. It's bad luck for Douglas because he would have been on Strong Scotch but when he was suspended and couldn't ride the horse he recommended me to Alex Wong Yu-on and I thank him for that.' Culhane came to Hong Kong not as a headline name at Royal Ascot or Epsom Downs but as a prolific winner on northern English tracks with a reputation for dedication and hard work, and those talents have been given a strong test during his month in Hong Kong as he struggled to get mounts capable of winning. 'You know, it's a great leveller here. Everybody starts as nobody no matter what you've been doing at home,' he said. 'Today was different because I had horses with chances. When a couple of the early ones didn't do so well, I thought, 'no, not again'. Then I thought, 'just put your head down, and if it happens it happens'.' His day might have turned from sweet to sour but for a dose of sheer luck when Strong Scotch swept around the three or four leaders to take the lead on straightening and rolled in. Several horses were crowded up in the incident but the stipes allowed Culhane to escape with a reprimand. The jockey hopes his all-weather double won't set people thinking the wrong way about his riding, though. 'I've had a lot of experience riding on the all-weather surfaces in England, but I don't want people to think I can't get a winner on the grass,' Culhane said later and he was full of praise for Strong Scotch. 'I've ridden him in the mornings, too, and he gives you a great feel, like a really good horse.' Trainer Alex Wong Yu-on said he had no idea whether Strong Scotch would handle the all-weather surface yesterday following his impressive turf win recently. 'They tell me good horses handle any surface, and he is a good horse,' he said. Culhane's first winner, Alex Wong Siu-tan's Tremendous Way, made the jockey earn his cheque. The seven-year-old needed strong riding for much of the 2,400 metre journey before outstaying stablemate Rainbow Seeker (Way Leung) in a result that disappointed the trainer. 'I thought I would get the tierce,' said Wong, after his other runner, Legend's Glory, could manage just fifth. 'He was a bit one-paced at the finish. Maybe he needs it longer.' Wong said he had instructed Culhane to stand over the winner. 'I told him he is a very lazy horse and he couldn't afford to rest on him,' the trainer said of the horse he himself bred from an Oaks winner in Australia, Look Aloft. 'Yes, he did tell me that - and I think Tremendous Way is going feel even lazier when he wakes up tomorrow,' quipped Culhane after the win.
