It seems Chris So Wai-yin is a man of many talents after the likeable trainer revealed he was once a real estate agent and that A Beautiful’s owner Yit Kwok-leung was his one-time mentor. So had a double with Super Man snapping his winless run before a blinkered A Beautiful produced the biggest surprise of the day – outside of the trainer’s tale of selling property. “He was my boss, it was in between being a trackwork rider here and when I went to Canada to work with horses there,” So said. A Beautiful had won on wet ground in Australia and although there wasn’t much to go on from nine unplaced runs previously, So said the step up to 1,400m had made a difference for a horse he said still had scope for improvement. “You could see that he wasn’t really going straight to the line and maybe next season we will have a better horse,” he said.
Andreas Schutz moves one step closer to retaining licence next season after Winning Boy lives up to his name
A quick jump by Winning Boy was key to the seven-year-old’s upset victory, according to jockey Keith Yeung Ming-lun, as trainer Andreas Schutz kept his faint hopes of avoiding a “show cause” hearing alive. Winning Boy hadn’t won since his first start of this season but after Yeung bounced the veteran out and gained a box seat position, one in front of Kei Chiong Ka-kei on race favourite Good Method, the jockey’s confidence grew immensely. “That’s where we won the race,” he said. “I wasn’t very confident before the race to be honest but once we had the favourite behind us and a nice run I thought we could win,” he said. A ninth win of the term for Schutz leaves the German trainer requiring six wins from the remaining 67 races to avoid facing the licensing committee.
Willie Way to become a Happy Valley staying specialist, says Paul O’Sullivan after dirt win
Paul O’Sullivan is managing expectations with dirt track winner Willie Way after a positive ride from Karis Teetan saw the dour four-year-old break through for his maiden win. The switch to a wet all-weather track and 1,800m proved a winning move after Willie Way had finished runner-up over 1,800m and then 2,200m at Happy Valley, where O’Sullivan predicts the stayer will specialise. “He is the sort of horse that in time will be a nice 2,200m Class Three horse, on a cold night at the Valley,” he said. Teetan managed to keep Willie Way closer than the horse had been previously from gate one, despite pressure from the outside. “That was where the race was won,” O’Sullivan said. “He stays well, he had to work pretty hard to maintain that spot but they went a slow sectional down the back, he got a breather and was able to slog away in the finish.”
