After a lean return last season, trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai has set about re-establishing himself this term and a double was another boost as he tries to attract new stock to his stable heading into next term.
Last season saw a sharp decline in productivity for Lui as he dropped to a career low of 13 victories - only just scraping past the performance benchmark for trainers.
But this term has been far better - wins to Distinct Commander and Sharp Hunter moved Lui to 32 victories and outright eighth in the trainers' championship, with the popular horseman now armed with some ammunition to go shopping for new horses.
"Hopefully we can get some nice young horses into the stable," Lui said. "Our stable was looking a little tired. I am very happy with the way things have gone this season."
Distinct Commander and Sharp Hunter are four and five respectively - so aren't exactly new - but both are lightly raced and the winning riders were predicting more wins.
Distinct Commander, a son of Fastnet Rock who had fallen into Class Five after eight unplaced efforts, has the breeding and looks to be a star but breathing issues - Lui said the gelding is a "grade two or three roarer" - will probably limit how high he can go. Nevertheless, jockey Brett Prebble believes Distinct Commander can win again in Class Four if handled correctly.
"The key was staying at 1,200m for him," Prebble said. "It isn't his distance really, but with that type of breathing problem you can't stop and start like they can do in 1,400m races. He is a beautiful cut of a horse and if his breathing was fine you would never see him in Class Five - he is a better horse than that and he could sneak one in Class Four."
Sharp Hunter had been placed in four of six starts this season after an off-season transfer from Michael Chang Chun-wai and the Irish import was sent out with solid support in a Class Three over 1,200m, starting 3.1 top pick. Douglas Whyte guided the son of Choisir to a one and three quarter length victory despite a wide run in transit and scrambling around the turn.
"There's still some improvement there," said Whyte, who got down to 117 pounds to ride the gelding. "He is still quite leggy and if he can furnish in the off-season then he could turn into a nice horse. He obviously ran a hard 1,200m today and he gave me a nice kick when I asked him for it, and he will definitely get 1,400m too."
