Trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai hopes Richard Kingscote’s all-the-way win on Run Run Timing can kick-start a stronger second half of the season for the British jockey after he took full advantage of a lightning-fast Happy Valley surface on Wednesday night.
Kingscote wasted no time making an impact – he was soon back in the winner’s circle after steering Master Resolute home in Race 4. He came into the meeting with five winners from 223 rides this season, but struck twice in the first four races.
“I told Richard he might get the lead to himself and he did,” Yiu said after Run Run Timing’s win. “I thought he did a good job of not going so slow that horses would challenge him, but slow enough that he could run the trip strongly.”
The front-running sectionals and overall time on the A course were well inside the standard times for the class and distance, and the 1:38.93 was just 0.02 seconds short of the class record, which has stood since 2021.
Yiu believes the five-year-old can be a sneaky chance when he steps back up to Class 4 next start.
Kingscote may not be able to make the weight for that ride, but Yiu is keen to keep backing the jockey.
“I think he will be OK,” Yiu said. “Richard has acclimatized now and proven he isn’t just an ‘all-weather track’ king.”
Yiu has only just returned from Australia, where he spent A$460,000 (HK$2.55 million) on three yearlings at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney – the same sale where he bought Triple Crown champion Voyage Bubble six years ago.
