Chad Schofield completed an accomplished double at Happy Valley on Wednesday to maintain the good recent form that has seen him hit the mark at each of the last five race meetings.
And, for the second Wednesday night in a row, the jockey produced a peach of a front-running ride. This time he rolled the Jimmy Ting-trained Shadow Breaker to secure the lead in the Class 4 Yue Wan Handicap (1800m), set ideal fractions and maintained a strong gallop to the line to ensure the four-year-old a first win at the eighth attempt.
Chad wins the opener on Shadow Breaker (Pic – HKJC)
“He’s a horse that always works well but he’s only had a couple of runs for Jimmy and his racing had been quite disappointing in comparison to his work,” Schofield said.
“Tonight we planned to be midfield with cover but he jumped really well – he was quite positive and eager to get on with it from the gate so I let him stride. I didn’t really back it off the whole way round, it was a strong gallop and to the horse’s credit he kept running.”
Schofield was on the mark again in race six, the Class 3 Hing Wah Handicap (1000m), thanks to the John Moore-trained Larson. The three-year-old broke his Hong Kong duck at the eighth attempt, having won two from two in Australia.
“It was a very good win – I only picked the ride up on Monday – but he came here an extremely fit horse and he was a pleasure to ride. He pinged the lids and once he got outside the leader he spat the bit out, relaxed, and when I pressed the button he went again,” Schofield said.
Ricky Yiu went to 47 wins at the top of the trainers’ premiership – one ahead of Lui – thanks to the determined run of Focus in the Class 4 Yiu Tung Handicap (123lb). Karis Teetan drove the Per Incanto four-year-old to hold the late thrust of runner-up Electric Lightning (118lb).
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday, 12 April.
- Hong Kong Jockey Club
