Riding with supreme confidence, Hugh Bowman’s growing winning streak continued with a treble at Happy Valley on Wednesday as the Australian struck success for the fourth consecutive Hong Kong meeting.
Bowman triumphed on Stellar Swift for David Hayes in the second section of the Class 4 King’s Park Handicap, Danny Shum’s Harmony Galaxy in the Class 4 Wylie Handicap and Mark Newnham’s Casa Rochester in the Class 4 Oi Man Handicap, to maintain impressive momentum with six wins from his past 31 rides.
Hugh Bowman salutes on Casa Rochester (Pic – HKJC)
“I had nice rides coming into the meeting and you don’t expect them all to win. This guy (Casa Rochester) had an awkward barrier (gate eight) but he was aided by a frantic speed and I did think he would be a better horse ridden to hit the line and it proved right,” said Bowman, who boosted his haul for the season to 56 wins, a tally bettered only by Zac Purton’s 88.
“I think he’s still pretty immature and lacks strength, he might have more in store.
“Stellar Swift was courageous over 1400m last time and I think David (Hayes) made a huge judgement call to come back to 1200m and it proved to be right. He travelled beautifully throughout, there was a bit of traffic to contend with but when I needed him to lift, he did it for me.”
Four-year-old Harmony Galaxy had six starts in Brazil as Empire Of The Nile, twice finishing third at Group 1 level and transferred to Hong Kong on a mark of 68 and snared three minor placings before striking tonight as a 55-rater.
“Harmony Galaxy has been a work in progress, he needs to relax to produce his best and I was a bit worried going past the post for the first time that he wasn’t settling for me but then the pace increased and he got into a really beautiful rhythm,” Bowman said.
“I thought he got to the front with a bit in hand and he floated a bit and waited so, again, he’s still got more up his sleeve but it was great to win for him and the connections.”
Colourful King powers over the top in the Hong Kong China Rugby Cup (Pic – HKJC)
Colourful King continued his sharp rise with an electrifying sprint under Andrea Atzeni to land the Class 3 Hong Kong China Rugby Cup Handicap for David Eustace.
“He was impressive today. The race looked like it was going to set up well for him as they were clearly going to go pretty quick up front which would certainly help. But having said that, he won with authority,” Eustace said.
“We were confident he would improve. This was only his third start and he trained on really nicely, so we came here hopeful.”
With two wins from three starts, the Blue Point gelding’s only unplaced run came on debut at Sha Tin on 16 February.
“His first run down the straight at Sha Tin certainly had merit and that was only his first start. I think we would get 1200m but I certainly wouldn’t want to rush there either so I’d like to keep him to 1000m if we could,” said Eustace, who trained a treble at Sha Tin on Sunday (6 April).”
Flying Fortress benefited from a brilliant Harry Bentley ride to win the Class 3 Mong Kok Handicap for Cody Mo as Michael Chang-trained Sovereign Fund prevailed in the first section of the Class 4 King’s Park Handicap under Karis Teetan.
Caspar Fownes-trained Verbier broke through at his 14th start, leading all the way for Luke Ferraris to land the Class 5 Yau Ma Tei Handicap before Dennis Yip’s Northern Fire Ball won the third section of the Class 4 King’s Park Handicap for Jerry Chau. A son of Sooboog, the three-year-old improved his record to two wins and two minor placings from nine starts.
Hong Kong International Sale graduate Golden Empire posted his seventh victory from 38 starts under Keagan De Melo for Francis Lui to take his earnings to HK$8.67 million with a defiant front-running display.
- Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday 13 April.
