RACEDAY REVIEW: Mark Newnham's Ace as he surges to two race lead in championship

Hong Kong racing expert Luke Middlebrook choose his horse to follow, best training performance and ride of the day.

Horse to Follow — Ace
 

There might have been only nine wins between six of the 14 starters in the opening Class 5, but Ace's breakthrough suggested he can go on with it.

He had plenty in his favor, dropping into Class 5 for the first time after improving efforts in Class 4, making his first start for the Mark Newnham stable, and linking up with Jerry Chau Chun-lok. But he still had to deliver under top weight.

As has become typical of Chau this season, he resisted the urge to go too soon at the top of the straight. Instead, he waited for gaps near the 300-meter mark before popping the question. Ace took control with 150 meters to go and won by two and a quarter lengths, and Newnham can hope this is only the start for an untapped four-year-old.

Training Performance of the Day — Mark Newnham

 

There are still three and a half months left in the season, but after a brief slump Newnham is reasserting himself as the benchmark in the trainers' championship.

A five-timer at Happy Valley, Derby success with Invincible Ibis, and now a treble at Sha Tin has turned March into a statement and lifted him back to the top of the premiership. He finished the day with 44 wins, one clear of Caspar Fownes.

His handling of Ever Luck was another example of expert race placement. The three-year-old had shown above-average ability in four starts, all over 1,200 meters, while still doing plenty wrong. Newnham dropped him back to 1,000 meters, where a truer tempo looked more likely to suit, added blinkers, and James Orman found the outside rail uncontested to set the gelding up perfectly.

Ride of the Day — Alexis Badel

Six different jockeys had tried their luck on Frankie Lor Fu-chuen's Better And Better, but it was Alexis Badel who proved the difference as the four-year-old finally broke through at his 12th start.

Sent off favorite five times in 11 prior starts, Better And Better again attracted strong support, tightening into $4.9 favoritism from as high as $12 after two luckless fourths.

Badel still had barrier 13 to overcome, but he made sure his mount traveled. When the pace steadied approaching the 700-meter mark, he kept Better And Better rolling three-wide with cover rather than taking a hold. That proved the winning move. The horse whose back he tracked carried him into the straight, and from there it was up to Better And Better to let down.