'My horse was hit and reacted quickly. I lost an iron and was out of the saddle and I thought I was down'

French jockey Eric Legrix came back from the brink to win three at Sha Tin last night then declared Rainbow And Gold the local horse 'most likely' for the Hong Kong Vase in December.

Legrix won on Universal Glory, landed a big betting move on Traveller Star then wrapped up his treble in the Group Two Queen Mother's Cup on the Brian Kan Ping-chee trained Rainbow And Gold. The four-year-old had been runner-up in the Group One Champions And Chater Cup behind Oriental Express and brought that form down in class last night for a hollow victory that will not be the last in good company.

'He won tonight because he was just too good for them,' Legrix said. 'Last time he ran against the best horses in Group One at level weights and today he was a handicapping certainty. But this is a very good horse and at 2,400 metres he might be the best horse in Hong Kong next season. He ran well against the best in the Champions And Chater and he is only going to be better and stronger next season.'

Kan took the quinella in the Cup, with Ironic Commander handy to the lead throughout and fighting back to bet Magic Hands for the minors.

Legrix said the soft ground last night had not been a hindrance to Rainbow And Gold, but he felt the horse was not flattered by the surface in his 2.75-lengths win.

'He feels like a real stayer. He can be very lazy and you have to let him find his feet and then work at him but when he sees the straight he changes legs and really stretches,' he said.

The treble took Legrix to 29 wins for the season but the night could have been so different as he went breathlessly close to hitting the turf after a freak home turn accident in the opening race when debut runner Lucky Master (Wendyll Woods) overreacted to the presence of another horse in front of him.