Horse to Follow - Packing King
Packing King arrived at Danny Shum Chap-shing’s stable still learning his craft. Two starts later, he is unbeaten for his new trainer.
The four-year-old had three starts for Pierre Ng Pang-chi before transferring to Shum and has struck in both runs since. Zac Purton described him after his first win for Shum as a “frustrating horse”, but he is starting to put it together.
He looked more comfortable again winning on Sunday, backing up that first win with another success and giving the stable hope there is still more to come as he continues to mature.
“I am lucky only,” Shum said. “Not because I am good, but because this horse was not right physically or mentally before, and he was improving.”
Shum said Packing King will race on this season, but Monday’s ratings release will determine whether Purton can stay aboard next start.
“Usually if you get two wins in a row, they will give you seven points,” Shum said. “If they give seven, then he will go into Class 3 and I need to find another jockey.”
Ride of the Day - Zac Purton, Come Fast Fay Fay
Jimmy Ting Koon-ho does not call on Zac Purton lightly, and Come Fast Fay Fay justified the booking.
Ting had a moment of concern when the four-year-old found himself in front for the first time in 14 starts, but the alarm bells did not last long. Purton controlled the race from barrier five, faced minimal pressure from his rivals and kicked clear to score comfortably by two lengths.
Outside of Little Paradise, Purton had ridden for Ting only twice this season before Come Fast Fay Fay, both times on Golden Friendship, including a win on December 3.
Ting was blunt about asking the champion jockey to take the ride.
“If the horse has no chance, I don’t want to ask Zac to ride it,” Ting said. “I asked him to ride this one about three weeks ago.
“When he led, I said to myself, ‘oh, headache’,” he said. “But when you have Zac riding one of your horses, you can trust his decisions.”
Training Performance of the Day - Danny Shum Chap-shing, Romantic Warrior
Let’s not overcomplicate things here – Danny Shum Chap-shing deserves the honors for his handling of Romantic Warrior, who became only the third horse to complete Hong Kong’s Triple Crown.
Shum kept the eight-year-old at the top of his game through a demanding campaign that began with back-to-back wins over 2,000 meters, including a record fourth Hong Kong Cup in December. He then brought Romantic Warrior back to 1,600m to start his Triple Crown bid in the Stewards’ Cup, stretched him out again to win the Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m), kept him at that trip for the FWD QEII Cup (2,000m), and had him ready to produce one more defining performance in the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m).
The horse deserves most of the praise because he kept showing up. But Shum still had to manage the miles, the pressure and the changing distances, then have his champion ready to peak again when history was there to be won. That was the training performance
