Australian rider Ronny Stewart opened his Macau account with a nicely judged ride on Gary Moore’s Good Spirit to win the last of the day on Sunday the Class 2 & 3 over 1500 metres.
Stewart, currently here on a three month contract got the best out of Good Spirit a former Hong Kong cast-off to hold on and beat Luen Yat Colarado (Craig Grylls) by a half length, with Gauteng (Charles Perkins) in third.
Stewart at age 29 and over 500 winners to his credit is a much traveled jockey who after being a top Sydney apprentice spent six good seasons in Singapore, winning three Singapore Gold Cups on El Dorado for Japanese trainer Hideyuki Takaoka, making him the most successful jockey in the race along with fellow Australian Alan Trevena who also won three Gold Cups when based there.
A stint in Mauritius was another learning curve and now it’s Macau that has become the focus of Stewart’s attention.
“Hopefully I can bring my experience to Macau and do well.” Stewart said.
Filipino rider Kelvin Abobo another new face in the enclave booted home his second winner in Macau with a last to first victory on the W T Lai trained Rush’N Prince in the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres.
Abobo did a good job on the former New Zealand galloper saving valuable ground via the rail from last at the eight hundred mark to be joint leader on the corner, then angled out to the better ground for the run home and won easily by five lengths over race favorite Jylland (Charles Perkins) paying a whopping $694.00 to boot.
Abobo is finding things vastly different from Philippines racing but is adapting well to Macau.
“We only have sand racing in the Philippines and here you have both sand and turf.”
“As well the racing here is different and they race tighter and you have a lot of very good jockeys to compete against, but I am gaining very valuable experience and it will make me a better jockey.”
Abobo like Stewart is on a three month contract initially and is joined by Panamanian Ruben Silvera who is back in town for another stint.
Silvera rode for almost three seasons in the enclave from 2007 winning 62 races.
