'It would have been nice to go out a winner but that's how it happens sometimes'
The fairy tale ending for trainer David Oughton failed to materialise at Happy Valley last night with his final runner, but the gentleman trainer found consolation in the two decades' worth of friends who shook his hand.
Oughton took his bow after 19 years in Hong Kong racing with Always Welcome in the Guizhou Handicap (1,200 metres), his only runner for his final meeting but the realities of the C+3 at the Valley were all too familiar for the trainer.
'That's racing - the 1,200m has never been his best trip and the fairy tale was always going to be very tough once he drew a wide gate as well,' Oughton said. 'It would have been nice to go out a winner here but that's how it happens sometimes.'
Always Welcome scrambled into third behind the Caspar Fownes-trained Lucky Winner (Jacky Tong Chi- kit), who himself had finished third as David Hayes' last Hong Kong runner at Sha Tin in June 2005.
He didn't get the prize in the race but the Jockey Club ensured the Englishman would not leave empty-handed, presenting Oughton with a silver-gilt dish to mark his great contribution to racing, which included so many of the biggest races in Hong Kong and some great moments abroad as well with Cape Of Good Hope in recent times.
