Owner Cheng Ting Kong achieved a rare feat in Sunday’s Lisboa Juvenile at Taipa when he provided the first three runners across the line in the second running of the Listed event over 1200 metres.
Cheng’s debut runner Sunshine Region ridden by Panamanian rider Luis Jurado scored an impressive win over Sunshine Rhythm (Louis Corrales) with Sunshine Spirit (Moon Seyoung) running in third.
It’s only the second time in the history of the Macau Jockey Club that an owner has provided the quinella and tierce in a feature event.
Owner Cheng Yung-Pun, principal of the Domeland racing entity, first achieved this extraordinary feat in 2000 when Great Escape ridden by Grant Cooksley won the prestigious Fat Choy Cup from Extended Edition, with Penmanship in third.
Not only were all three horses raced by Cheng Yung-Pun, all three were prepared by Macau’s then champion trainer Kim Cheong.
The legendary George Moore trained the first three runners across the line in the 1996 Macau Derby when Winning Touch ridden by his son Gary, beat Truly Heart and Fighting Fit, however the three horses were raced by different owners.
In Sundays Lisboa the winner Sunshine Region was prepared by the combined stable of Y Y Choy and Y T Lam, whilst the runners up Sunshine Rhythm and Sunshine Spirit come from the yard of Patrick Lee.
Six of the 10 runners in the Lisboa were raced by Cheng Ting Kong and prepared by three different trainers.
The sunshine boys were at it again in the last of the day the Class 4 & 5 with Cheng’s Sunshine Energy powering home under Luis Jurado to grab a last stride win over Sunshine Full Life (Fausto Durso) to round out the day.
Sunshine Energy was also prepared by the Y Y Choy/Y T Lam stable and gave them and Jurado a winning double.
Cheng Ting Kong has raced horses for a number of years in Macau the most notable being Sunshine Sure Win who won the Guineas – Derby double, the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2009.
In the past season Cheng Ting Kong has made a huge investment in Macau racing and at present has total of 29 horses in training in the enclave, the majority of them all two and three years olds.
* APRENTICE Charles Perkins continued on his winning way with a double on Sunday’s big Charity Race Day for his master K H Leong.
Pearl Tahiti was the first of the duo’s winners in the 2013 Macauslot Horse Racing Trophy over 1100 metres.
The gelding made light of his wide draw to scoot across and share the lead to the home corner before darting away inside the two hundred to score from the fast finishing Luck Of The Dragon (Martin Cangas), with Allen’s Victory (Frankie Choi) in third.
In total contrast Turquoise Dane the second winner from the stable came from the tail of the field to score a runaway win under Perkins in the Guangxi Hechi Macau International City Charity Trophy over 1800 metres.
The win was carbon copy of the geldings win on February 16 when he came from a mile back to win running away over 1950 metres.
Perkins has kicked home 11 winners since returning from injury, whilst for trainer K H Leong it was win number 14 for the new season.
* FORMER top three year old Northern Champion bounced back to form with a strong win in the SJM Charity Trophy over 1400 metres.
Ridden by Frankie Leong, Northern Champion put paid to a handy field to race away and win by almost two lengths from Theology (Louis Corrales), with Ko Wo Fortune (Lei Kin Ming) in third.
One of the most outstanding three year olds of the 2011 season, Northern Champion a son of Mugharreb (USA) was one of the early Derby favorites before he succumbed to knee problems.
Trainer Vincent Chong has done a fine job to get him back to compete successfully at a high level and with the summer rains on the way another win or two is achievable.
The gelding who was a product of the MJC second Subscription Ballot has now won six races and over $1.7 million HKD for connections.
