A fiercely competitive Hong Kong trainers’ championship took another dramatic turn at Sha Tin on Sunday as Francis Lui produced a timely treble to surge firmly back into contention with the season entering its decisive stretch.
Francis Lui Sha Tin treble.
With only 16 meetings remaining in the campaign, Lui was the only trainer among the leading title contenders to register multiple victories, lifting his tally to 50 wins for the season. That moved the 2023/24 Hong Kong Champion Trainer into fourth place behind Danny Shum (54), Mark Newnham (52) and Caspar Fownes (51), while David Hayes sits on 48 and defending champion John Size on 46.
Lui’s afternoon began in the opening section of the Class 4 Luk Wu Handicap (1200m), where Zac Purton guided promising three-year-old Superb Spirit to victory. The gelding, carrying 127lb, built on encouraging trial performances and a debut fourth in April by running down Lucrative Eight late in the race.
Lui believes the youngster has a bright future beyond sprint distances.
“Superb Spirit is a nice horse,” Lui said. “In the future, I think he will stay further as he has a big stride. Hopefully, he can be a Classic Mile horse in time.”
The Sha Tin treble gathered momentum when Lui combined with Vincent Ho to capture the feature Class 3 Hong Kong Lions Cup Handicap (1200m) through Thunder Kit, who finally secured his breakthrough Hong Kong victory after several narrow defeats.
“He’s still green,” Lui said. “But the more he races, the more he matures.
“If you look at his form, he seems to have potential.”
Lui completed the three-timer when Meaningful Dragon, ridden positively by Luke Ferraris, landed the opening section of the Class 4 Lung Fu Shan Handicap (1400m) at generous odds of 15/1, becoming the biggest-priced winner on the card.
“I told Luke to be positive,” Lui explained. “It doesn’t matter whether he is two-wide or three-wide, he keeps trying and fighting.
“It’s getting exciting, the championship is so competitive, and I will just try to keep my horses performing.”
The Francis Lui Sha Tin treble was arguably the standout storyline of the meeting, but there were several other notable performances throughout the programme.
Jamie Richards enjoyed a productive afternoon, with Zac Purton steering Lahore to a commanding success in the Class 4 Cheung Shan Handicap (1000m). The gelding, who has battled recurring fitness issues, finally opened his account at the 11th attempt and handed Richards his 22nd winner of the campaign.
“It was frustrating that he bled,” Richards said. “But to still run as well as he did is nice. If we could get him back and not have too many fitness issues with him, then we were confident we could get him back in form.”
Richards later made it 23 seasonal wins when Romantic Fantasy claimed the Class 4 Port Shelter Handicap (1800m) under Alexis Badel. The six-year-old had not won for more than two years but had hinted at a return to form after several placed efforts earlier in the season.
“It’s nice to get a win with the horse, he’s been knocking on the door,” Richards said. “He’s earned some good prizemoney for his owners, but I was quietly confident he was ready to run well today with a bit of cut in the ground.
“He got a nice ride from Alexis, and everything went well. He’s a typical European horse that’s just needed a long time to acclimatise.”
Frankie Lor was another trainer to enjoy success, with Enjoy Golf finally converting consistent form into victory in the Class 5 Eagle’s Nest Handicap (1200m) under Harry Bentley.
“This horse, he’s been quite disappointing,” Lor admitted. “You can see in Class 4 he’s been tried over 1200m, 1400m, 1600m — sometimes he leads in front, sometimes he sits behind the leader — he still does not show too much.”
Apprentice Nichola Yuen partnered On The Lash to victory for Pierre Ng in the Class 5 Buffalo Hill Handicap (1800m) before securing a second success aboard Run Run Smart in the second division of the Class 4 Lung Fu Shan Handicap (1400m).
“Nichola’s claim definitely helped,” Lor said. “He’s an easy horse who can jump and lead. He seemed to like the wet track, and he’s become more consistent with age.
“He will have to go up to Class 3 next time, and I will have to ask Nichola if she can ride him again.
“I had 46 winners last season, and I’m on 37 now, so I still want more.”
Elsewhere on the card, Cody Mo-trained Little Monster edged a thrilling finish to the second section of the Class 4 Luk Wu Handicap (1200m), narrowly holding off Better And Better. Chris So also celebrated his 25th win of the season as Perfectday landed the opening division of the Class 3 Siu Ma Shan Handicap (1400m) under James Orman.
John Size kept his title defence mathematically alive in the closing race when Brilliant Express, partnered by Hugh Bowman, captured the second section of the Class 3 Siu Ma Shan Handicap (1400m) for a fourth career victory and his first success in more than a year.
Hong Kong racing resumes at Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday.
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