Reigning Cape Champion and Hong Kong’s newest jockey Aldo Domeyer made an immediate impact at Happy Valley on Wednesday when he rode a powerful finish to win at just his second ride.
Despite Domeyer only arriving on Monday, trainer Tony Millard has already thrown his support behind him and the 32-year-old kicked things off with a terrific win for the former SA trainer aboard Prance Dragon in the fifth race, the Cheung Sha Wan Handicap over 1200m.
In a proud double for the SA Jockey Academy, Grant van Niekerk (also from Cape Town) won the fourth race on Gentry.
Happy Valley today (Pic – Andrew Fortune)
Aldo’s ecstatic Dad Andrew Fortune, a former SA Champion jockey, was there to support his son and spoke to the Sporting Post.
Fortune labelled the win one of the highlights of his life.
“Look at this crowd. Look at the atmosphere! It’s like a Durban July meeting. Oh boy, I’m so proud of Aldo. He is a champion and I hope this is the beginning of great things. We have so far to go in South Africa if I look at this!” said the former SA Champion rider.
Aldo has amassed almost 1000 wins in South Africa, including three at Gr1 level
Happy Valley crowd today (Pic – Andrew Fortune)
“I have had a lot of success for his father [Terrance] as an owner and perhaps a couple of horses that he has owned in South Africa, or at least been associated with,” Domeyer said of Millard, adding that they only officially met this week.
| Plc. | Horse No. | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Actual Wt. | Declar. Horse Wt. | Draw | LBW | Running Position |
Finish Time | Win Odds |
| 1 | 3 | PRANCE DRAGON(B349) | A Domeyer | A T Millard | 130 | 1069 | 2 | – |
7
6
1
|
1:09.39 | 6.1 |
| 2 | 5 | LOVING A BOOM(C122) | N Callan | R Gibson | 125 | 1177 | 7 | SH |
8
8
2
|
1:09.41 | 3.5 |
| 3 | 4 | ENDEARING(V338) | C Schofield | J Moore | 129 | 1118 | 6 | 2 |
10
9
3
|
1:09.70 | 4.7 |
| 4 | 10 | E MASTER(A254) | Z Purton | C Fownes | 120 | 1116 | 11 | 2-1/2 |
12
12
4
|
1:09.77 | 5 |
| 5 | 9 | CEREFINO(A398) | K C Leung | W Y So | 121 | 1078 | 5 | 2-3/4 |
6
3
5
|
1:09.82 | 49 |
| 6 | 7 | MIGHTY POWER(C094) | M L Yeung | T P Yung | 121 | 1036 | 10 | 5 |
11
11
6
|
1:10.19 | 141 |
| 7 | 2 | VICTORY MACHINE(V358) | U Rispoli | J Moore | 131 | 1069 | 3 | 5-1/4 |
2
2
7
|
1:10.23 | 45 |
| 8 | 6 | HARBOUR ALERT(T254) | H N Wong | C W Chang | 120 | 1298 | 1 | 6-1/4 |
1
1
8
|
1:10.37 | 22 |
| 9 | 12 | BEAUTY LOYAL(B383) | M F Poon | A S Cruz | 112 | 1099 | 12 | 6-3/4 |
9
10
9
|
1:10.45 | 42 |
| 10 | 8 | EAGLE(B106) | G van Niekerk | P F Yiu | 122 | 1125 | 4 | 8-1/4 |
5
5
10
|
1:10.69 | 7.5 |
| 11 | 1 | DRAGON PIONEER(A381) | C Wong | Y S Tsui | 128 | 1146 | 9 | 20-1/2 |
4
4
11
|
1:12.66 | 21 |
| 12 | 11 | VERY RICH MAN(V286) | J Moreira | L Ho | 117 | 1062 | 8 | 21-1/4 |
3
7
12
|
1:12.81 | 20 |
“I’m more excited than anything else,” Domeyer added about his emotions ahead of his first night in the saddle earrlier this week. “I always find a bit more success on those tight, fast tracks, so it’s something I’m looking forward to.”
