Cheerful Days continued his breakout season and took his record to five wins in his past six starts when winning the Class One Chinese New Year Cup (1,400m) at Sha Tin on Thursday.
The five-year-old burst through between market leaders Lucky Express and Californiadeepshot inside the last 200m to spring a minor surprise under a delighted Alexis Badel.
“It was a great win from the horse, we knew he had improved so much,” Badel said.
“He’s been very consistent at Happy Valley and we came back to a shorter trip, where he’s been winning as well, so today was a great challenge.
“Bottom weight [of 113 pounds] helped the horse and he fought really hard through the line. It was a solid win. He’s a nice horse and I don’t see any reason he will not keep improving.”
Cheerful Days bridged the gap between Class Four and Class One company in just five starts, skipping Class Two altogether, and will now be knocking on the door of Group level with a rating in the 90s after starting his run on 59.
Trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai was thrilled with his charge’s victory but admitted to being a little shocked that Cheerful Days handled the return to Sha Tin with as much ease as he did.
“I thought he was good in Happy Valley because he kept winning there. Now he can handle Sha Tin again – I’m surprised,” Lui said.
This victory continues a meteoric rise for Cheerful Days, who failed to salute in his first seven starts in Class Four company but has since won on six occasions to take his prize-money earnings to north of HK$6.5 million.
Those earnings could continue to rise, with Lui to turn his attention back to the DBS x Manulife Million Challenge at Happy Valley, in which Cheerful Days sits second on 45 points.
Alexis Badel ready to ‘bounce back’ from lull
The competition sees runners accrue points at Happy Valley in all races in Class Three or above, with 15 points for a win, six for second, four for third and three for fourth, and Lui already has his eyes on the next target in an attempt to claim the winner’s share.
“Now we’ll focus on Happy Valley at the end of the month [for the Million Challenge finale],” Lui said.
If Cheerful Days is to walk off with the HK$650,000 Million Challenge first prize he will need to overhaul current leader Fa Fa, who has amassed 60 points while winning four races but disappointed when well beaten in the Classic Mile last time.
French rider Badel appears to be hitting a rich vein of form after a quiet spell and he went on to complete a double for the second meeting in a row after the victory of Country Boy in the Class Four Prosperity Handicap (1,400m).
That was Badel’s 26th winner of the season and he was seen to good effect on the John Size-trained runner, overcoming a difficult draw in stall 13 to come with a run down the centre of the course and touch off the Joao Moreira-ridden Solar Partner.
