Gary Ng Ting-keung improved his new season results by 50 per cent in the space of a single afternoon, starting the Boxing Day fixture with four wins alongside his name but adding a well-backed double courtesy of Withallmyheart and Classic King.
Ng may never trouble the premiership contenders but he gets a lot of respect in the industry for the accuracy of his opinion, with that judgment underlined again yesterday after Withallmyheart won easily as a heavily-bet $51 second favourite (he ultimately paid $48.50 because of the deduction applied to late scratching Dongguan Victory).
Later in the day, Classic King came with a well-timed burst under the guidance of Olivier Doleuze to take the seventh event, the Mount Parker Handicap (1,800m) after being supported from $260 into $155.50.
Classic King has a history of soundness problems but Ng is a master with such animals.
He spares them the daily trackwork grind, uses a lot of swimming and light work to get them fit and then lets racing take care of the rest.
And so it has been with Classic King this term. The Kaapstad gelding had raced three times leading up to this performance and Ng knew it was time to call the flamboyant Frenchman back to duty.