Francis Lui Kin-wai’s trainers’ championship challenge is building at the right time.
This season’s title race still looks open enough to develop into a proper late-season fight, and Lui clearly has it on his mind. He also knows better than most that a championship does not have to be won from the front.
When Lui landed his first and only premiership in 2023/24, it was only settled on the final day of the season, when he won four of the last five races to edge past Pierre Ng Pang-chi by one win.
Ng had been the tearaway leader since early November and was still 12 clear in March, but Lui went on a roll. He trained eight winners that month and five more in early April, cutting the deficit to five by this stage of the season.
This season it has been Mark Newnham setting the pace for much of the campaign, and he remains the equal leader with Caspar Fownes on 47 wins.
Lui is seven adrift – close enough to make his move and close that gap – and he will be leaning on a group of lesser-exposed runners from his 68-horse stable to boost his chances on Sunday at Sha Tin.
His six-pronged team is made up of Galactic Voyage, Turquoise Velocity, Amazing Partners, Invictus Dragon and a pair of developing three-year-olds in Call Me Sparkle and Baby Sakura.
Lui said Call Me Sparkle’s debut win at 22-to-one came as a surprise, but he feels the three-year-old has improved since, while Baby Sakura is another youngster he expects can keep progressing through the back end of the season.
Baby Sakura overcame barrier 11 to win on debut by a length and three-quarters, then rose eight points in the ratings to a mark of 60 and carried 135 pounds at his next start, when he was beaten a length and a half into third after showing signs of immaturity.
Lui hopes progressive four-year-old Galactic Voyage can bounce back from a last-start fifth after blowing the start and losing ground. Jerry Chau Chun-lok has ridden him in all five starts but can’t make the weight this time, so Alexis Badel takes over and is set to ride one pound over at 117.
Turquoise Velocity is another four-year-old who has shown ability and now tries a longer trip for the first time after back-to-back wins over 1,000 meters, including a dead-heat with We Are Hero last time for his third win from four starts.
Amazing Partners is also facing a distance test. After placing in his first two starts at 1,200m, he won twice after stepping up to 1,400m, then ran a solid third at his first try in Class 3 and now gets his chance at a mile, which Lui said he is looking forward to.
While Invictus Dragon is still chasing his first win at the 10th attempt, he has not had much go right from a barrier perspective in his last two runs, when he finished third and second. Gate 8 gives him a fairer chance this time
