Fausto Durso is closing in on premiership leader Manoel Nunes following another double at Taipa on Saturday to take him within six winners off the lead.
Nunes, who is currently riding in Singapore is on 38 winners to Durso’s 32 and word has it Nunes could well be riding for the remaining two months of the season in Macau, setting the stage for an intriguing battle between the two Brazilian riders.
Durso won the first of the day’s features the Guandong, Hong Kong & Macau Retired Police Trophy by virtue of a pickup ride on Diamond Rocket at the expense of the injured Peter Ho.
In a thrilling finish Diamond Rocket kicked again to score by a short head over Wealthy Fortune (Benny Woodworth), with Pride Of Triomphe (Louis Corrales) in third.
Diamond Rocket a son of Elusive City is prepared by Patrick Lee and is putting together a nice record on the all weather with two wins and three placed runs from his six starts on the surface.
Durso’s second winner of the day was the K C Hoi trained Sunshine Full Life who powered away with the last of the day the Class 3 & 4 over 1050 metres.
Panamanian jockey Louis Corrales combined with trainer Tommy Tse to win the second feature of the day the Korea Racing Authority Goodwill Trophy over 1350 metres.
Track and distance specialist Fighting Kite overcame a check early to hit the line too well for Sheng Li Win (Benny Woodworth) and make it win number four at the trip.
Fighting Kite has won seven races in total the other three being at the old 1300 metres distance on the all weather.
Another Panamanian rider Ruben Silvera opened his winning account for this trip to Macau with a win on the Stephen Chow trained Tiger Exceed in the first of the day the 2 & 3 Year Old Handicap over 1350 metres.
Silvera first rode in Macau as a 19 year in the 2007 season and rode 62 winners in just on three seasons riding in the enclave.
* PROBLEM plagued galloper Luck San rewarded connections for their persistence with a strong win over 1050 metres on the sand at Taipa on Saturday.
A three time winner at Moonee Valley, Luck San’s story is interesting to say the least.
The son of Encosta De Lago commenced his racing career with the John Hawke’s Team in Melbourne racing under the entirely different name of Happy Patrick.
In his seven starts in Australia Luck San (Happy Patrick) won four and placed on three occasions including a second to the outstanding horse Sincero in the Gosford Guineas (LR).
Following his Guineas run connections changed his name to Luck San and the chestnut won two more races before being imported to Macau.
“He is a horse that’s had bad sesamoid problems all his life, here he is a five year old and only ten starts,” trainer Joe Lau said.
He is really a day to day proposition but a really nice horse.
“It’s been a big job to get him this far, I have to thank my staff for their efforts especially Wil Heffernan my assistant for the hours she has put in with him.
“Fortunately he doesn’t need a lot of work and if he keeps sound he will win plenty more.”
Luck San had not raced for just on a year when Lau stepped him out in a Class 1 contest at Taipa back in February.
The five year old cruised in the lead that day but weakened late to finish in ninth place behind Oriental Taste.
A second run followed in the Group 1 Chairman’s Challenge Cup again at 1200 metres but the gelding failed to fire in the very heavy conditions again finishing well back.
Joe Lau then turned his attention to the all weather surface and the moved paid off handsomely, with Luck San dominating from the outset under Andrew Calder to record a good time of 1.01.3 on a track riding slow due to the persistent rain throughout the week.
“The sand is a bit more forgiving for horses like him and I will keep him on that surface for the time being.” Lau added.
The stable pulled off a nice coup the previous week with another problem plagued horse the Australian import Depot Beach, who took out the Group 3 Macau Sprint Trophy in his third run back after a year away from racing.
