The Stanley Chin and Gary Moore combination produced a winning double on Saturday’s turf program at Taipa with the New Zealand imports Silver Alloy and Hostwin Challenge.
Silver Alloy scored his second win in the enclave with a tough staying effort in the Class 5 over the new race distance of 1950 metres.
Chin made use of his nice gate of barrier four and his speed to race on lead and showed plenty of fight to hold off Goal Post (Frankie Choi), with Win A Little (Breinell Yamzon) running on strongly from the back for third.
Hostwin Challenge capped of the day for Chin and Moore when he was given a perfect ride by Chin to win the Class 3 over 1500 metres in smart style and stamped himself as a Derby hopeful.
A son of Testa Rossa from the Carnegie mare Generous Nature, Hostwin Challenge raced in New Zealand as Sir Ferrari when prepared in the North Island by Gerald Innes at Opaki.
The geldings racing pattern in Macau is the total opposite of his style in New Zealand in which he was traditionally a very slow beginner that produced a huge finish late.
His two runs in the enclave have seen him away smartly, in fact leading early on Saturday before box seated in third and unleashing a strong burst to race clear over the final stages.
Tony Fung also led in a winning double on Saturday’s card with the long priced Glory Of Lotus taking out the first the Class 5 & 6 under Frankie Leong at big odds of 96/1, and then later with Loutuspondmoonlight in the Class 3 & 4 under Luis Jurado.
Lotuspondmoonlight was confidently bet from the outset and shrugged of his ordinary good track form from Ireland to score a last stride win from Diamond Whirlwind (Fausto Durso), with favorite Sunshine Champion (Louis Corrales) a whisker away in third.
A son of Verglas, Lotuspondmoonlight raced in Ireland as Madeira Man with his only victory being a win on the sand at Dundalk over 1200 metres.
The grey gelding was beaten a massive 21 lengths on a good track at The Curragh in his last run in Ireland, but his win on Saturday showed that he is just as adept on a good surface and looks to have a future in the Class 3 ranks in Macau.
* TALENTED sprinter Windicator made a successful return to the track following knee surgery with a big win on Friday night's sand program at Taipa.
Windicator showed superior speed under Filipino jockey Martin Cangas from his inside gate to lead a smart lot of Class 3 gallopers and then sped away over the final 200m to win easily and clock a slick 1.01.9 for the 1050 metre trip.
His time was just .03 slower than the brilliant Luck Of Smiling in the Class 1 Handicap.
Trained by Craig Marshall, Windicator was first up since July last year with a lengthy spell away from the track after a knee operation.
“After a disappointing run back in July we found he had a chip in his nearside knee," Marshall said.
“We had that taken out and then he just needed time to get over it.
“I thought he trailed great his first trial back and I liked him a lot tonight.”
The four year gelding has always displayed plenty of talent and Friday nights win was his fourth from nine starts with over $600,000 HKD in prize-money to date.
Marshall scored earlier in the night with the consistent Good Racing who made a mess of them in the Class 4 & 5 over 1600m to make it win number three for the son of English Channel.
Good Racing was the first leg of a winning double for French apprentice Charles Perkins who later won the last of the night on My Cup Of Tea for his master K H Leong.
Perkins has been in great form since returning from injury winning six races from only six meetings back, giving him a win strike rate 23%, at present the best in the enclave with a 42% place rate.
Unfortunately it turned out a weekend of mixed fortune for Perkins when he crashed heavily to the turf on Bold Fay Fay at Saturday's meeting.
Perkins was taken to hospital for observation and later released.
