Mark Newnham warmed up for a big weekend when he enjoyed success with a sprinter with “more to come” at Sha Tin on Saturday.
As he looks ahead to My Wish’s next test en route to December’s Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in the G2 BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile on Sunday, Newnham has plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
The Australian handler saddles the hot favorite for next week’s contest and also sits five wins clear at the top of the trainers’ championship thanks to the victory of Crimson Flash at Sha Tin on Saturday.
“I’m very pleased with Crimson Flash,” Newnham told The Standard. “I think he’s a decent horse. He’s got speed and one thing he’s been doing this season is jumping better. In each of his trials he’s jumped quickly and that makes the job that bit easier.
“We just had to finish off early with him last season because he had a small knee chip which we operated on straight away. We gave him some time and he’s come back well.”
The trainer confirmed he had already pinpointed Crimson Flash’s next target before his seasonal reappearance on Saturday, where he collected his third consecutive win and first at Sha Tin.
“In two weeks time, there’s a Class 2 race over 1,000m where he’s eligible for a nice bonus,” Newnham added. “That was the reason I ran him today. He can go for that nice Class 2 bonus and they don’t come along all that often.”
With Saturday’s meeting in the rearview mirror, Newnham is focused on getting his stable star, My Wish, to Sunday’s Jockey Club Mile in tip-top shape after his stable star stretched out nicely behind Ka Ying Rising in his latest dirt trial on Friday.
“Without trying to get in a race with Ka Ying Rising, he trialled really well,” Newnham laughed. “If you take Ka Ying Rising out, then it was perfect really.”
My Wish has dominated in his two starts this season. He powered to success in September’s Group 3 Celebration Cup before a decisive win in the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy last month.
Last season’s Classic Mile will meet a similar field to his latest success when he carries 123 pounds under Luke Ferraris.
“The trial was enough to keep him ticking over and he’s at least as well as he was for his first two starts,” Newnham said. “We’ve got to get through that race first and hopefully we can be on target for December.”
Newnham confirmed My Wish’s build up in the week before his bid for a second successive Group 2 win.
“He’ll have another gallop on Thursday where he’ll sit behind our pony and just breeze past - that’s our usual preparation for him.
“He’s very straightforward now to manage. In the early days he was a bit delicate, but now you can just train him as you’d like.”
