French star Maxime Guyon kept up his stellar form on his short-term stint in Hong Kong with another Sha Tin double courtesy of The Concentration and Gallant Epoch on Sunday.

Since starting a three-month contract at the end of November, Guyon broke through with a Group One success on Sosie in the Hong Kong Vase (2,400m) and Sunday’s brace boosted his haul to nine winners.

The Concentration overcame a wide trip without cover in the second half of the field to snare the opening Class Five Tai Lam Handicap (1,400m) for trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai.

Guyon sealed his double when Francis Lui Kin-wai’s Gallant Epoch kept on strongly on the speed to score a decisive triumph in the first section of the Class Four Birdwood Handicap (1,400m).

“It’s been amazing, I started really well this year,” Guyon said.

“[Gallant Epoch] ran well last start when he was second and today he was favourite and we could go to the front – not too fast – and he kicked again and was strong.”

Gallant Epoch’s win helped Lui move one step closer to 1,000 Hong Kong wins, with the 2023-24 championship winner sitting on 998 victories.

Yiu joined Guyon with a double after also scoring with Victory Sky in the Class Three Tai Tong Shan Handicap (1,200m) on dirt.

Victory Sky made it back-to-back wins on the all-weather when he tracked the speed and booted clear to beat Swift Ascend by two lengths.

Newnham unveils smart debutant

Mark Newnham’s ties with one of My Wish’s breeders led to him securing Supreme Sea, who made a spectacular start to his career by winning the Class Four Tai Mong Tsai Handicap (1,200m).

Steve Hodge trained Supreme Sea in Australia where the Sebring Sun gelding trialled twice before he was sold to Hong Kong connections.

“When Steve came over for the Derby, he mentioned that he had a horse at home that was trialling well and up for sale,” Newnham said.

“After he trialled, I rang him and said ‘I’ll have him’, so he put me in touch with the owner, who was also the breeder, and we worked out a deal. So far, it’s looking good.”

Ridden by Lyle Hewitson, Supreme Sea settled in the box seat and surged clear once hitting the front 250m out to score by a length and three-quarters from Monta Frutta.

“He’s been a little bit hit and miss in his trials. A couple of trials he’s jumped very well, a couple he hasn’t but his overall talent’s enough to get him by, but he will need to jump better in the future,” Newnham said.

“It’s a good starting point for him – he was the youngest horse in the field, only a three year old, but he’s a big horse. I think he’ll continue to improve.

“I’ll probably give him a fairly light season because he’s a big, tall horse that needs to fill out a little bit. I think he’ll be effective on the turf as well, so I think we’ll just carefully plan him through the rest of this season with a good four-year-old year ahead.”

With 28 wins this season, Newnham now sits one victory clear of Caspar Fownes in the race for the trainers’ championship.

Crawford’s transfer success continues

Brett Crawford’s streak of finding improvement from stable transfers continued when Lovero won second up for his yard in the concluding Class Three Tai Tong Handicap (1,600m).

Previously trained by Tony Cruz, the Lord Kanaloa galloper had dropped to 10lb below his last winning rating when only finding Classic Series contender Invincible Ibis too strong on stable debut last month.

He showed the benefit of that outing with a comfortable success, always travelling strongly in midfield before being let loose by jockey Harry Bentley at the top of the straight to surge into the lead.

Smart Avenue arrived late on the scene, but he had already gained the winning break, with the pair a distance ahead of the third-placed Legend Winner.

“He showed in his first run that he had found his form again. He trialled really well before that and we felt that riding him to give him a bit of a chance was the right thing to do and it was basically the same plan today,” said Crawford.

“I thought Harry rode a really good race – I think he had him in the perfect spot and when he asked him to quicken, he quickened really well.

“It’s just nice to see him regain his form and run another consecutive very good run. I’ve got to say a big thank you to the owners for their support and for trusting the stable with the horse.

“The way he won today, hopefully we can build on that.”