Bargain buy rocks on the sand
Australian import Rock To Road (Stryker) has proved a real bargain buy for owner Mr Mok Shing Fung with the chestnut winning his fourth race in Macau in Friday night’s Class 2, and running a new class record in the process.
Ridden by the inform Eric Cheung, Rock To Road made it win number three on the sand when he put paid to a smart lot of Class 2 gallopers, with a strong win in the 1050-metre sprint in the slick time of 1.01.1 seconds, snipping .03 off the old standard set by The Pirate King (Red Element) in 2019.
Rock To Road began well and found himself parked in third spot in the run, before peeling out to challenge early leader Gem Glory (I Am Invincible) on straightening. The gelding let down nicely and darted clear to win over Sport Genius (Ocean Park), with Gem Glory in third.
Disappointment of the race was the heavily bet favorite Circuit Master (Bernardini), an ex Australian Godolphin galloper formerly named Esperance, who was backed by punters as if there was no tomorrow. Circuit Master after being hard ridden early found himself out in no man’s land, and battled to finish fifth, beaten six and quarter lengths.
Rock To Road is a former Chris Waller horse that raced in Australia as Beidi, where he was bred and raced by Ingham Racing. From 14 starts the gelding only managed to win two races, a two-year-old maiden at Canterbury over 1100 metres, and a Benchmark 65 at Eagle Farm over 1300 metres.
Given that the Eagle Farm win was his final start before being offered up for auction at the 2019 July Inglis Online Sales, his purchase price of a modest AUD$25,000 was a real bargain for Mr Mok Shing Fung. Rock To Road has now won four races, three on the sand and one on the turf, and is the only horse to have a victory over Golden Conqueror (Rothesay), Macau’s current reigning sand champion. On the day in question Rock To Road finished all over the top of Golden Conqueror at odds of $2190.50 for the win.
After Friday night’s win, the five-year-old is now nudging the HKD$1 million mark in prize-money.
Eric Cheung continued his great start to the new season with a double on Friday night’s card to take him to 12 wins for the new season, and to the top of the list in the jockey’s standings.
In fact, Cheung was one of three jockeys who between them rode all six winners on the night’s card; aside from Rock To Road he scored a runaway win on Heart Of Iu Cheong (Intrinsic) in the Class 5 & 6 over 1600 metres for his former master Stanley Chin.
Heart Of Iu Cheong, a UK import, scored his maiden victory when he destroyed his rivals with a massive seven and a quarter length win over the bolter Tokei Shinsei (Swift Current), with Epinart (Thorn Park) in third.
The winner ran a nippy 1.39.0 neat for the distance and had plenty in reserve on the line after being eased down over the final fifty metres.
On the night when the track was riding slick, five class records went by the wayside; the others being Tak Fai Of Pins (Pins) in the Class 5 & 6 over 1050 metres, Hostwin Prosperits (Redwood) in the Class 3 & 4 over 1350 metres, and Mr Half Lamma (Battle Paint) in race two, the first division of the Class 5 & 6 in 1.39.2 that was later eclipsed by Heart Of Iu Cheong.
Frenchman J B Hamel is another that is off to a good start to the season with his double taking his winning tally so far to nine.
Hamel was seen to advantage on both Hostwin Prosperits in the Class 3 & 4 over 1510 metres, and Hostwin Aurora (Red Element) in the last, the Class 4 over 1350 metres, both for trainer Tony Fung.
Hostwin Aurora was making his Macau debut, and after appearing to be struggling in the run mid-race, finished powerfully late to beat Collateral Mission (Reckless Abandon), with Majimaster (Sizzling) in third.
The double put Tony Fung on a line of three for the early lead in the trainer’s standings, the others being Stanley Chin and Sio Cheong with all three conditioners on ten wins apiece.
Peter Lao was another to score a double for the night to join Cheung, and Hamal in dominating the program.
Lao scored on the Rambo Tse runners Tak Fai Of Pins in race one and then backed up quickly in race two on Mr. Half Lamma.
Mr Half Lamma showed plenty of fight to outgun River God Choi (Casino Prince), with Rayson Warrior (Redwood) in third.
The win gave Rambo Tse five winners for the season from only ten runners, a win rate of 50 per cent and a place rate of 60 per cent.