Brett Crawford is hoping Class 5 winner All Are Mine can help him close out an impressive first season in Hong Kong with some momentum after a drop back in distance brought about a breakthrough win.
"We'll see how many points he gets and then have a look at what's left for the season," Crawford said. "He's a very tough horse. I just credit the horse – he takes his racing really well, so if we can find a race for him between now and the close of the season, then we'll look to do so."
The win was Crawford's 23rd of the season – and his sixth at Happy Valley – as the South African continues to make his mark in his debut term in Hong Kong.
The win came after a long wait for All Are Mine. The gelding arrived in Crawford's yard already in Class 5 on a mark of 37, then slid all the way to 26 through nine winless runs before finally breaking through last night.
Crawford had tried the gelding over 2200 meters twice this season, but it was the drop back to 1650m that produced the desired result.
"He's had a few incidents where he found trouble or the pace was wrong, then I tried him over 2200m, which was too far for him," Crawford said. "Since we brought him back to the 1650m, he's been much better."
Ridden by Alexis Badel, All Are Mine jumped from barrier two but was shuffled back when the race went quicker than expected. Badel angled him off the fence in the straight, and the gelding quickened past tiring rivals to score by a length and a quarter from Oriental Surprise.
"Obviously he had a good barrier, and the plan was always to go forward in the early part, but there was a lot more speed in the race than what we anticipated," Crawford said. "So, we ended up being shuffled back, but it actually played into our hands because in the straight a lot of those horses couldn't sustain their run, and when Alexis got him off the fence, he quickened really well."
