White and Prebble in a class of their own as Man grabs brilliant hat-trick

Local trainer Manfred Man Ka-leung enjoyed the night of his life with a first-time treble at Happy Valley yesterday but it was leading jockeys Douglas Whyte and Brett Prebble who held the spotlight as they turned on a little bit more of what thrilled the fans earlier this year.

The see-saw battle between Whyte and Prebble for last season's jockeys' championship was one of the highlights of the year and the pair sliced up six of the eight races between them again last night including an 'arm wrestle' in the stewards' room for the night's feature.

Whyte steered the John Size-trained Congratulation over the line first in the Chinese General Chamber Of Commerce Cup (1,200m) ahead of Beautiful Dreamer (Prebble) but an incident mid-race decided the controversial finish.

Whyte's mount had rolled in briefly in front of Prebble's ride, causing Beautiful Dreamer to wag his head around but lose little ground, and stewards later decided it was enough to change the placings despite a half-length margin at the finish. For Man that was the middle leg of the first three-timer of his training career, with Natural Echo (Prebble) and then 'the unluckiest horse in Hong Kong', Friendly Gains (Whyte) completing the set.

'I don't think I've ever seen in Hong Kong before a horse who won HK$2 million in stake money and still hadn't won a race,' said Man of Friendly Gains, whose record of 10 starts for a win and eight minor placings includes multiple second placings to star sprinter Sacred Kingdom. 'He's gone up, I think, 19 points since he got here and without winning a race, so he has been very hard to find the right opportunity for.'

Whyte said he recalled Friendly Gains being unlucky to lose when he rode him at his Hong Kong debut but he has been 'unfortunate to just not have the right luck or bump one better on the day ever since'.

'What he does need is cover or he just wants to tear, and tonight he was able to get that and even with the big weight he gave me plenty at the finish,' Whyte said.