Francis Lui Kin-wai brought up his 500th winner in Hong Kong in style yesterday – but only after he was forced to sit through an agonising wait for the result.
Lui’s Diamond Dragon (Brett Prebble) was sent out a 2.3 favourite down the straight at his second local start, having flashed home for second on debut, but Danny Shum Chap-shing’s Triumphant Jewel looked home and hosed after kicking clear.
On the line, though, Diamond Dragon lunged to make it incredibly tight, the judge taking five minutes to analyse the print before the result was semaphored.
“I thought it was a dead-heat! Maybe I will have to look at the photo to be sure,” Lui joked.
Diamond Dragon arrived a winner of the last of 10 starts in Queensland and Victoria, and the trainer says the manner in which he has hit his straps has caught him a little off-guard.
“This horse, you look at his form in Australia and it was so-so – it was hard to be confident that he would come out and perform straight away here,” he said. “But he’s acclimatised very quickly, he’s been a professional from the beginning and he has quite an engine and a will to win.”
However, while the handler would like to step Diamond Dragon up in trip, he says the straight course will be his home for the near future.
“I’m not sure about him cornering, to be honest,” he said. “There was one trial with Brett aboard on the dirt, his jaw seemed to lock up and he drifted out. He probably looks like he will appreciate further, but for the time being we’ll keep to the straight track – at least we know he likes it!”
It has been a strong 18 months for the trainer, having prepared 35 winners last season and finding himself in a tie for second in the trainers’ championship this term with 20 victories to date.
“At the moment, I have a very strong core to my stable – a lot of Class Three, Class Four horses that seem to be competitive a lot,” he said. “I think that’s very important. Hopefully we can get another 500 wins!”
Diamond Dragon gave Prebble a double after he earlier scored on Chris So Wai-yin’s Class Five galloper Aztec Empire in the second.
