Derby Glory for Mok’s Online Bargain
When bargain hunting owner Mr. Mok Shing Fung was perusing the May 2020 Inglis Online Sale Catalogue, a victory in the Macau Derby (Local Gr 1, 1800m) would have not been foremost in his mind.
Mok settled on Lot 67, a three-year-old brown gelding named Olympic, by Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) out of the Street Cry (Machiavellian) mare Ringhals. After entering a bid of AU$30,000, Mok was no doubt pleasantly surprised when he was able to pick up the horse with such a strong black-type pedigree on the dam’s side, for such a modest sum, given that he was originally a AU$280,000 yearling at the 2018 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Mok renamed the gelding Simon Fubuki, and on Sunday, per medium of a super ride by Brazilian jockey Dayversom Barros, Simon Fubuki raced away with Macau’s premier event to win by two lengths over Yiucheung Champion (Not A Single Doubt), with Circuit Miles (Fastnet Rock) a neck away in third spot alongside Snow Storm (Mossman) in fourth.
Snow Storm was actually third over the line, but was relegated to fourth following an objection by Luis Corrales, rider of Circuit Miles, for interference over the final 150 metres, which was duly upheld.
For Simon Fubuki’s trainer Rambo Tse, a former Hong Kong apprentice, it was his biggest win to date and his first Group 1 winner. As well, it was also the first Group victory for Dayversom Barros, who rode a perfect race on the four-year-old, finding the rails from gate six to settle in the first five, and from thereon never went around a horse.
“Oh man, that was just so great,” a pumped-up Barros said after the win.
“He was always traveling really well in the race. I wanted to get to the rails and get him cover to make him relax, and it turned out just perfect.”
“I was never worried about the leader, Captain Brentford, he was going way too fast, I just got on the back of Snow Storm and followed him and just kept getting the runs on the inside, even in the home straight.”
Mok Shing Fung consistently has around 12 horses in work with various trainers in the Club, and has had an amazing amount of success with horses from the Online Sales, picking up former high-priced horses for a fraction of their original costs.
Simon Fubuki had raced 11 times in Australia under the care of Chris Waller for a win in a Yarra Valley maiden over 1950 metres, and three other placed efforts that included a third at Randwick over 1100 metres, earning a total of AU$37,350.
Prior to Sunday’s Derby win, the four-year-old had won twice on the sand in Macau at 1510 metres and once on the turf at 1500 metres. After Sunday, his total earnings in the enclave now stand at HK$1,854,525, the equivalent of AU$324,000. It’s a been pretty tidy earn for Mr. Mok. And it’s not over yet by far, with Rambo Tse setting his sights on the Macau Gold Cup (Local Gr 1, 2000m) on August 29.
Stanley Chin’s Australian mare Beauty Bolt (Redoute’s Choice), who had placed fourth in the VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) at Flemington, was all the rage with punters, along with her stable mate the Guineas (Local Gr 1, 1500m) winner City Gold (Outstrip) and Nick Moore’s Circuit Miles.
Beauty Bolt ran on well late for fifth, beaten three lengths, in what was a great effort on a day where it was tough for the back markers to make ground on the wet track. City Gold got back in the run from his wide gate and failed to run on, finishing a well beaten 11th, almost ten lengths away.
Blackjack Mok (All Too Hard) is another bargain horse for Mok, as the six-year-old bolted away with Sunday’s Class 3 race over 1800 metres, under another Brazilian rider in Fausto Henrique.
Prepared by Sio Cheong, Blackjack Mok chalked up win number five in Macau with 16 placings, ten of those in the Q spot, from his 46 runs and has now earned a total of HK$1,381,660 (AU$242,396) in prize-money. A tidy return for a horse that Mok picked up on the Gavelhouse Australia Online Auction for a mere AU$23,000.
Blackjack Mok was originally a $290,000 purchase at the 2016 Gold Coast Yearling Sales. By All Too Hard (Casino Prince) out of the King Cugat (Kingmambo) mare Devil Moon, the gelding raced in Australia as Devil’s Luck. Like Simon Fubuki, he was also under the care of Chris Waller as he won a 1600-metre maiden at Wyong, and placed on three occasions from his 12 starts earning $44,540 in prize-money.
The now six-year-old has plenty more left in him judging by Sunday’s win, and is very capable on both turf and sand.
Smith Stars in Chairman’s Cup
Wayne’s Smith’s record-breaking galloper Star Of Yiu Cheung (Casino Prince) gave nothing else a chance in Sunday’s Chairman’s Challenge Cup (Local Gr 1, 1200m), with an effortless win by three lengths, eased down at the line.
Ridden by Japanese rider Shogo Nakano, Star Of Yiu Cheung began only fairly from gate 11 and took around 100 metres to really hit his stride. The five-year-old bay cleared a line of three inside of him that were vying for the lead before the 800-metre bend, and from then on it was game over.
Once in the straight Nakano let him loose and he put six lengths on the field before easing up coming to the line. Sacred Capital (O’Reilly) ran on well for second, with Pearl Green (Fastnet Rock) getting up late for third.
Star Of Yiu Cheung was first up since his record-breaking win on May 29 when he clocked 1.07.2 for the 1200 metres. Sunday’s time of 1.09.2 for the 1200 was excellent given the wet ground and the ease of his win.
“He is just awesome; he has come back such a good horse this season. I was rapt with the win from the wide gate, and he proved he is just as good on the soft ground.” Smith said.
“And you know, since his last win he had to have surgery again, to drain another sinus infection. He just has this allergy problem and it hits him about this time of the year.
“The sinus operation involves drilling hole just above the horse’s left eye and inserting a tube into the sinus cavity, and then flushing it daily with an iodine solution for ten days.”
Smith purchased Star Of Yiu Cheung on the advice of Aquis Farm’s Shane McGrath.
“I was looking for horses when I got my trainers licence in 2019; Shane suggested the horse to me. He had run second in a trial at Hawkesbury and the winner was snapped up straight away for Hong Kong. How lucky was I that he ran second, otherwise he would have gone to Hong Kong, too.”
In any other year Smith would be eying the Group 3 races in Hong Kong or Dubai.
“Yes, it’s a bit of a shame we are stuck here with the Covid, but then it might have been a blessing, as he is definitely getting better as he gets older, so hopefully by the time we do get to travel he will be even better.”
Smith’s Derby runner Yiucheung Champion did the stable proud with a sterling second to Simon Fubuki again under Shogo Nakano.
“I was delighted with his run and Shogo gave him a lovely ride. He is going to make a real nice horse next season.”
South African rider Tshwaro Appie doesn’t see the winners circle too often with limited chances coming his way, however on Sunday he made the most of his opportunity on the Geoff Allendorf trained Lucky Star (Zacinto), who saluted per medium of a perfect ride.
Appie allowed the son of Zacinto (Dansili) plenty of time to settle in fifth spot on the rail, and ended up on the back of the race favourite Die Casting Alloy (Dream Ahead) in the run.
When the favourite left the fence before the corner, Appie seized the opportunity and got up inside of him before he could come back in, and then darted right along the rail to score well.
Lucky Star had a length to spare on the line over Smart Captain (Super Easy), with Die Casting Alloy a short head away in third.
“It was good to get a win with him and he’ll definitely be better next season.” Allendorf said.
“I thought he had a great chance and I offered the ride to a few of the top jockeys, but no one wanted to make the effort to get down to ride at 116 pounds.
“As it turned out, I doubt they would have ridden it as well as Appie did. It was a first class ride.”
The win gave Allendorf his 23rd victory for the season and took him to sixth spot in the trainer’s rankings.