Ride of the Day - Luke Ferraris, Happy Boss
Luke Ferraris showed why he is one of the better ‘barrier jockeys’ in the room when he guided the David Eustace-trained Happy Boss to victory from gate 13 in the fourth event.
What looked a tricky speed map on paper became even more muddled when likely leader Cheerful Wongchoy came out and settled near last, but Ferraris’ intent was clear from the outset. He urged Happy Boss forward from the wide gate and had enough momentum to slot outside Lightness Of Music by the 1,200-meter mark in the Class 4 1,400m contest, before Lyle Hewitson pressed on to lead aboard Eighty Light Years.
"We thought we’d roll the dice from the wide gate,” said Eustace. “There didn’t look a lot of speed on paper and Luke executed it perfectly. He gets them away very clean. Plenty of other strengths, of course, but he’s very good out of the gates.”
Training Performance of the Day - Dennis Yip Chor-hong
After going down narrowly in last season’s first Griffin race of the campaign, Dennis Yip Chor-hong has gone one better.
Yip’s Quick Money was beaten a short head by Jamie Richards’ The All Out on that occasion, with The All Out a 1.20 chance under Zac Purton and Quick Money at 8.80. This time the market was with Yip, with Perfect One starting 2.20 favorite and with Purton aboard.
"Nice Griffin,” said Yip of the French-bred three-year-old. “He needs more time to mature. He’s a big baby. But with only six horses in the race, the standard was not so high. He trialed with all the Griffins and he was the best one. Zac asked the owners a long time ago to ride him and after two trials he called me. So two weeks ago I told him, 'Okay, I will book you'.”
Horse to Follow - My Mars
Trainer David Hayes believes My Mars has the “right brain for Hong Kong” after the three-year-old Irish import made a winning debut in Sunday’s Class 3 1,200m contest.
"It was an amazing effort because of his age. He’s the same age as the Griffins in Race 1, so to come out and do that, to win a race full of potential Class 2 and Class 1 horses, it was a really superb effort by this young horse.”
My Mars arrived in Hong Kong a five-start maiden from Ireland, but Hayes believes he was not given the best chance to show his full potential there. “In a couple of his races, he wasn’t well ridden. I just thought he went to the front too soon a couple of times. But he’s got the right brain for Hong Kong. He’s very calm, he’s strong, he eats well, and to win in such a short time after arriving in Hong Kong is an incredible effort."
