Brilliant South African rider Weichong Marwing celebrated his best-ever Hong Kong performance with a treble at Sha Tin last night, but it could so easily have been four.
Warm favourite Dr More was noticeably slow to begin in the second division of the Bonham Divided Handicap over 1,400m before going down in the final stride to Triumphant Feeling.
'I'd say it cost him the race since he was only beaten by an inch and the work he had to do to get back into the race after missing it was worth a couple of inches at least,' Marwing said.
'Dr More can be a funny horse at the start and you have to catch him on his night. Obviously, tonight was not his night - that's horseracing - but it was a great run just the same. He's a young horse, just turned four, against some pretty seasoned horses in that race, so he did well.'
The remainder of the card was mostly a happy story for Marwing, who won on Rare Collection for Wong Tang-ping, Lucky Victories for Geoff Lane and New Asians for Francis Lui Kin-wai.
When stable rider for Tony Millard last season, Marwing had been extremely competitive for the title until the retainer broke up halfway through the season and the jockey had to return to South Africa. Now a Club jockey, Marwing has started this term with all guns blazing in the chase for the Hong Kong jockeys' championship title.
'Three wins is the best I've had on a card in Hong Kong and to get them all for different trainers is great, too. I'm spreading myself around a bit and I'm getting a few rides for different stables,' Marwing said.
