Patience is a virtue for any horse trainer and it paid its way in spades for Almond Lee with a double at Happy Valley last night.
Mac Row (Derek Leung Ka-chun) finally broke through at his 30th start, arriving in the last stride to record a Class Four 2,200m victory, but it was the win of Golden Chopsticks (Alex Lai Hoi-wing) in the Class Three over 1,200m that had Lee waxing lyrical.
The eye-catching grey with the sharp turn of foot only won his second race of the season, but he has been notable for his consistency in this campaign.
"He's a good horse," Lee said. "The owners sent him across to me and he had all sorts of problems - a bad tendon, multiple leg issues and so I told them, 'He's going to need more than six months off'.
"Most owners here would retire him, but they have been incredibly patient, and now they are reaping the rewards.
"In the end, he had almost 15 months on the sidelines, and he took some time to find form again. But since he won back in March, he has blossomed and he hasn't run a poor race since.
"He's just an honest little horse and every stable wants a horse like him."
For Mac Row, it took 30 starts, a 38-point drop in the ratings, three trainers and moving out to 2,200m to finally salute the judge.
Lee said the step up beyond 1,800m for the first time was either going to be a "make or break move".
"He was bred to get over ground, by Le Vie De Colori out of a Desert King mare, but the main reason it's taken me so long to step him up in trip is his temperament," he said.
"He refused to settle and until that was sorted, it just would have been pointless trying him at 2,200m. If I'd run him over this trip six months ago, he would have failed and I think it would have broken the horse."
Tony Millard also prepared a double, taking out the last two races with Horse Of Fortune and High Five.
Lightly raced High Five scored under a heady Douglas Whyte ride and Millard has his sights set on sprints next term.
"We'll put the horse away now, he's only a three-year-old," Millard said. "We'll have some fun with him next season, although he will need to improve on that because he was pretty stretched there tonight.
"I deliberately didn't run him for two months after his last run and targeted this race. It's nice when plans come together."
Millard is also looking to next season with South African import Horse Of Fortune, who broke through at his seventh start.
"He's no superstar, but he's an honest Class Three horse who will pay his way here," he said.
"He was relatively inexpensive and already he's well on his way. Next season, in the right races, he will be one to follow."
It was a big night for 10-pound claimer Jack Wong Ho-nam as he produced his first winner at Happy Valley at just his second night of riding at the city track.
Wong punched Gran Bolivar, trained by his master Me Tsui Yu-sak, straight to the lead, dictating from the front and kicking away for an easy Class Four success.
"It was a good ride from the boy," Tsui said. "The horse, he's tiny and using the claim meant we could bring his weight down. He got him out of the gates and raced him just right."
Tsui also had a double, with Happy Bao Bei going back-to-back under Brett Prebble, the Australian jockey scoring his sixth win for the local handler since the start of May.
"The inside gate helped as he's a horse who needs things to go his way and Brett was able to position him perfectly," Tsui said.
"He's calmed down now, but when he arrived with me he was crazy. He was flighty and all over the place, and he would never have won with that mindset."
From the stewards' room, Damian Lane copped a three-meeting suspension for careless riding in the early stages of the seventh race aboard Golden Addiction.
