Fownes pays tribute to late owner and pleads for dirt rethink
Caspar Fownes used the occasion of Stable Mail's impressive third Hong Kong win to lobby the Jockey Club to review its position on the programming Class One races on the all-weather track.
Stable Mail ($37.50 favourite) was not only a popular winner with the players but a sentimental one, too, coming less than two weeks after the death of owner Gary Coull, 52, after a battle with cancer.
'Gary had only been a client of the stable for just over a year but in that time we had become very good mates,' Fownes said. 'We'd get together every six weeks or so and had a game of poker, which he really loved. We enjoyed each other's company.
'He had a real soft spot for this horse and it was wonderful that his wife, and family and friends, were here tonight and could enjoy the horse winning. They've told me to just keep on, business as usual, because that is what Gary would have wanted.'
But keeping on, as per the family's instructions, is not so straightforward now. Stable Mail won this Class Two Dallas Handicap off a rating of 96 and is now eligible for Class One. Not a problem for turf horses but a real issue for an all-weather specialist, because there are no Class One races programmed on the artificial surface.
'I really think the Jockey Club should revisit its position on this because dirt racing is a necessary fact of life in Hong Kong racing,' Fownes said. 'Two tracks cannot cope with the wear and tear of 100 per cent use. They need some relief and the all-weather track provides that.