One was a surprise, one was not, but leading trainer John Moore was still forecasting bright futures for both of his Happy Valley winners last night.
Moore-trained Stag Knight finally lived up to his work, pedigree and looks to win his maiden, while Harbour Master has already been doing plenty right. And Moore believes he can go on to be a Group performer after taking the Japan Racing Association Trophy,1,650m.
His prior wins had been over 1,800m, but Moore kept Harbour Master fresh for the 1,650m assignment at his first appearance at Happy Valley and the gelding travelled sweetly in midfield for Joao Moreira before settling the race quickly in the straight.
"He's by Mizzen Mast and we haven't really had any decent ones here, but this is going to be the exception," said Moore.
"He's got a lot of upside Harbour Master and now he's won on the turf at both tracks and the dirt, so he's versatile like that and he'll get 2,000m. But he's able to win, kept a bit fresh, over a mile.
"This was a bit of an experiment, but he loved this track. Now there's a race on the dirt coming up for him and, hopefully, after that his rating will put him in the Group races. He hasn't surprised me at all with what he's doing."
The same statement might have been expected about Stag Knight (Moreira) if you wound the clock back to March this year when he made his unlucky debut as a hot favourite after some brilliant trials.
But six starts later, with some disappointments, some bad luck and a heart irregularity on his résumé and not much else, Stag Knight was as much a relief as anything when he bolted up with a Class Four.
"He's been the ultimate morning glory - I'm lost for words," said Moore.
"He has been the best mover, the best worker since he came to us. He'd had laser surgery in Australia, but we knew about that before he arrived and it hasn't been the problem.
"I threw the pacifiers on him to see if they might, well, pacify him, and we've got a big win like that out of him. Now that he's done what we expected, he could go on with it."
Moreira's double was matched by a double for Zac Purton, winning with a brilliant ride on Happy Homing in the first for Francis Lui Kin-wah then bookending the card with Royal Partner for Caspar Fownes.
"It was a nice ride because Zac had to get it right on the first turn or Royal Partner would have been in trouble and out of business," said Fownes. "He's an honest trier this horse, he'll probably battle in Class Two now, but I just love to win for Mr and Mrs Shroff - they're the loveliest owners."
Jockey Andrea Atzeni completed "the set", when he became the third of the three Italians on the roster to win, getting off the mark in Hong Kong with a box-seated effort on Benno Yung Tin-pang-trained Regency Ho Ho.
"Of course, I'm thrilled to get my first winner and especially at a track like Happy Valley, which is so different to the tracks I am used to riding," Atzeni said.
Moore shared training honours with Lui, who added Ride With The Wind to Happy Homing for his double, but did not see it as he, like the winning trainer in race two, Ricky Yiu Poon-fai, is absent in New Zealand at the Ready To Run sale.
Stewards claimed one victim - Matthew Chadwick catching a two-day ban for careless riding on Snowhooves in the last race.
