Elated Fownes reserves most of his praise for patient owner
It was a moderate Class Four but trainers' championship leader Caspar Fownes was in raptures over what he described as 'a special moment' when eight-year-old Toy Quest finally broke his duck at Happy Valley last night.
Jockeys championship leader Gerald Mosse was aboard as Toy Quest managed to salute in the sixth after more than four years of trying and 45 starts for owner Samson Chan Ming-yiu who, alas, will not appear in the winning photo.
'Unfortunately he had other commitments and didn't come but his wife and son are here for the photo, but what a champion - the owner not the horse,' said Fownes, who could hardly believe the gelding had won at last.
'When we bought him, he had a promising record in Australia from a handful of starts. It's just incredible that it's taken this long to win but he has had issues with internal bleeding which haven't helped. Retirement had been discussed a few times and as recently as last summer but I said to him the horse is sound in the legs, he'd finally got some relief at the handicaps and was worth one more try. What make it bearable for Samson was that Toy Quest was chipping away earning minor cheques a lot of the time, so he persevered. Hopefully, the horse will get some confidence from that and win another now.'
The Fownes-Mosse run continued with the win, but stewards stepped in to put a brake on Mosse's progress, with the Frenchman copping a two-day ban and HK$40,000 fine for careless riding in the race. He will ride Sunday at Sha Tin before starting his suspension.
