Dubai contender Elderly Paradise had no trouble adding Saturday’s feature to his impressive record with a strong win in the Jockey Club Of Turkey Goodwill Cup on the all weather track at Taipa.
Ridden by Manoel Nunes, Elderly Paradise powered to the line at the end of the 1600m to beat his stablemate Victory Admiral (Martin Cangas), with Luen Yat Forever running first time for the Gary Moore yard producing a better effort under Craig Grylls to finish third.
With trainer Alan Tam receiving confirmation early last week that the son of Danewin had been accepted by Dubai, Elderly Paradise is set to arrive in the UAE in early January and follows in the footsteps of Change The Grange, Tam’s tough sand campaigner who won two races at the 2005 Dubai World Cup Carnival.
Change The Grange was later bought by Sheik Ahmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and finished his racing days in the UAE.
The Dubai Carnival has proved to be a happy hunting ground for Macau horses.
Macau’s first ever international runner was the Y T Lam-trained Active Bob Bo who won a qualifying heat of the Golden Shaheen at the Dubai Carnival in 2001.
Ridden by Irishman Robbie Burke, Active Bo Bo showed great courage to stave off the French sprinter Nuclear Debate and win by a head, with another Macau runner Gold World Winner from the Peter Leyshan stable running third in the race.
Unfortunately Active Bo Bo was denied his chance at Golden Shaheen glory when he succumbed to a fever on race eve.
Peter Leyshan returned to Dubai in 2004 and won a race with his top middle distance performer Grandstand, with champion trainer Gary Moore doing Macau proud the following year winning a race with Happy Pearl.
Elderly Paradise has been a revelation since he commenced racing in Macau in July last year as an unraced griffin.
The gelding had ran a nice second in a barrier trial at Pakenham in Victoria and quickly showed his class in the enclave winning his first two races on the all weather.
A 12 lengths win in the G1 Derby in April on heavy ground preceded a five and a half length victory in the G1 Macau Gold Cup in June, giving the chestnut gelding the two final legs of the Triple Crown.
A very firm track in the Guineas in March was all that denied Elderly Paradise Triple Crown glory when he was fifth behind the stable-mate Lucky Jai.
Elderly Paradise has now won 12 races and placed twice from his 19 starts, and has won over $4, 6 million in stakes to date for his connections.
* SATURDAY'S other feature event was the Malaysia E & O Group Cup Race over 1050m and was won by the Vincent Chong prepared Oriental Paris ridden by apprentice Frankie Choi.
Oriental Paris showed too much fight for Turquoise Fast (Roger Yu), with My Cup Of Tea (Luis Jurado) running on strongly for third.
Vincent Chong has done a fine job since taking over the care of the four year son of Camacho (IRE) winning three races with him from his 10 starts for the yard.
* MANOEL Nunes again took riding honors over Friday and Saturday with four winners including the feature Penang Turf Club Goodwill Cup on the Tony Fung trained Oriental Prestige.
Oriental Prestige, another son of Danewin, is a specialist on the sand with all the geldings’ seven wins and 16 placings all on the surface at 1300m and the new 1350m start.
Visiting New Zealand jockey Craig Grylls did not leave empty handed when he produced a cheeky front running display on the Steven Choi prepared Luen Yat Century in the Class 5 & 6 over 1350 metres.
Grylls, on a two day visiting license set Luen Yat Century alight from the six hundred corner and was able to pinch the race when he set up a big lead before the turn.
