Douglas Whyte bounces back with race-to-race double at the Valley

Trainer Douglas Whyte was already riding a frustrating 90-race run without a winner, so when stable transfer Ace War scored first-up for rival trainer Mark Newnham in race three at Happy Valley last night, it was shaping as another long evening.

Whyte didn’t have to wait much longer for relief. He snapped the drought in the next with Gameplayer Elite, then made it back-to-back when speedy frontrunner Giant Ballon led all the way for Zac Purton in the following 1200m Class 4.

“It has taken a long time to turn things around but the horses have been running consistently,” Whyte said after Giant Ballon. “We’ve run a lot of seconds, a lot of placing during that time – it’s a handicap system in Hong Kong so I can’t fault the horses - but both of those winners brought their ‘A’ game and ran very well.”

Whyte hadn’t won since New Year’s Day and Gameplayer Elite’s ‘right place, right time’ victory could be a sign the trainer’s luck has finally turned in the Year of the Horse.

“He has run consistently in his last two starts, he has been a victim of circumstances due to drws and pace and frustrating runs but I think the ground tonight, as well as the draw, the tempo all played into his hands and he won a nice race,” Whyte said after the 1200m Class 4.

The rain eased in time for the track to hold together well and it was even upgraded to ‘good’ from ‘good to yielding’ before race three — when Whyte’s former charge Ace War struck first-up for Newnham.

Ace War joined Newnham from his fellow ‘Olympics Stables’ trainer after going zero from 18 since arriving in Hong Kong in 2024, following a couple of low-grade wins in the United Kingdom.

One of those wins – over 2,039 meters at Doncaster – came on soft ground and Newnham said the rain in the lead-up to last night’s meeting may have suited the five-year-old.

Ace War had been finding form for Whyte, placing three times over the Valley’s 1,650m course in a sequence that began with a short-head defeat in the International Jockeys’ Challenge with Rachel King aboard.

Newnham trialled Ace War on the dirt then returned him to racing in a crossover noseband and lugging bit, the import still a handful for Purton as he struggled to settle behind a slow tempo in the 2200 meter Class 4.

“He did a good job because he pulled hard all the way,” Newnham said. “Zac’s job wasn’t easy but he won with a bit of authority so he might have a little bit in hand.”