Derby king Lau makes it four
Joe Lau reigns as Macau’s Derby king after Sacred Magnate (Foxwedge) produced a brilliant finish under Stephane Ladjadj to win the 29th running of the Macau Derby (Listed, 1800m) at the Taipa racetrack on Sunday.
Given a lovely ride by Frenchman Ladjadj, Sacred Magnate powered home once into space to nab race favorite Star Of Yiu Cheung (Casino Prince) right on the wire to win by a short head, with Hostwin Epanoui (More Than Ready) three quarters of a length away in third. Lau’s other Derby runner Crown Of Gold (Duporth) ran on well for fourth spot only two lengths away.
Lau has now won four of the last six Macau Derbies and went into the race quietly confident about the chances of both his runners, declaring in a pre-race interview that Sacred Magnate was the dark horse in the field.
“That was a great win, just wonderful, and a lovely ride by Stephane,“ Lau said. “We bought him especially for the Derby last year after he had run a very good race in the C S Hayes, a Group 3 at Flemington. He has taken a while to acclimatise here with the heat and he has not had much luck in his three runs.
“In saying that I was very happy with his last run in the Guineas as he ran on nicely for fourth, only one and a half lengths away, but he was the forgotten horse by many today.”
“Crown of Gold, my other runner, went very well also; he had won four races straight before today and was more fancied in the betting. He ran well to get fourth only beaten two lengths in what was a muddling-run race.”
Lau paid tribute to his staff after the race describing the win as a “real team effort”: “Not just this Derby but all my Derbies, at the end of the day it’s a real team effort – from my assistant trainer Wil Heffernan to our riding boys, our farrier and the mafoos, everyone plays their part.”
Sacred Magnate opened at 35/1 in the betting in contrast to stablemate Crown Of Gold who was the early 3/1 favourite. At the off, Lau’s stable supporters had trimmed his odds down to 16/1.
Not many owners worldwide can boast four Derby victories to their credit, but owner Eric Chen Ching Lung can do just that.
The win by Sacred Magnate was his fourth Derby victory having been a part owner in Lau’s previous Derby winners – firstly The Alfonso (Magnus) in 2015, followed by Sacred Man (Fastnet Rock) in 2017 and Sacred Capital (O’Reilly) in 2019.
While he raced those three horses in partnership with Dato K S Yap, Sacred Magnate was owned outright by him, having been originally raced by the duo.
It’s been a wonderful achievement for Eric Chen and eclipses owner Choy Ching Moon’s record of three Derby wins with Documentary (Aliocha), Doppio (Umatilla) and St Moritz (Grand Lodge).
Lau also won Sunday’s other feature race, the Chairman Memorial Cup (Listed, 1200m), with his stable star and last year’s Derby winner Sacred Capital, giving him his sixth victory in the time-honoured event.
Ridden by Peter Ho, Sacred Capital overcame a tardy beginning and being forced very wide on the home turn to storm home right over the top of the opposition and win running away. He scored by one and quarter lengths over Fortune Treasure (Dalakhani), with Bring Me Speed (Sebring) a neck away in third.
The Chairman Memorial was formerly the Chairman’s Challenge Cup, but was renamed this year in honour of the founder of the Macau Jockey Club, the late Dr Stanley Ho, who passed away in May.
“When I saw they had renamed the race, I said to myself, ‘I just have to win this race in honour of the great man Dr. Ho.’ He put the Club on the map and loved his horse racing,” Lau said.
Lau won his first Chairman’s Cup back in 1999 with Polish Warrior (Polish Patriot) when the race was run over 1500 metres. Crowns Gift (Just Awesome) was his second winner in 2004, again at the 1500-metre trip before the race distance was changed to 1200 metres.
Crown’s Master (Last Tycoon) was his next winner in 2007, and again it was Crown’s Master in 2009 followed by Sacred Hustler (Hussonet) in 2015, with Sacred Capital making six victories for Lau on Sunday.
Malaysian-born Lau has long been considered the doyen of Macau’s trainers and has won a total of 713 races in the enclave. His list of feature race wins is too numerous to mention, but it’s fair to say that he has won pretty much every feature event the Club has to offer.
It’s not too bad for a young man that arrived in Macau in 1989 with just HK$1,000 in his pocket that he borrowed from a friend. A former jockey in Malaysia, Lau commenced work as a riding boy in the Jockey Club before becoming an assistant trainer to Henry Lee. He was first licensed as a trainer in 1993.
One of the most impressive winners on Sunday was the Japanese import Satono Eternal (Deep Impact), who absolutely brained his rivals in the last of the day the Class 4 over 1800 metres.
Ridden by South African rider Tshwaro Appie, Satono Eternal – the smallest horse in Macau, going to scale at only 930 pounds – unleashed a whirlwind finish from the rear of the field at the top of the straight, to bolt away from his opponents and win by three and three-quarter lengths on the wire.
Favourite Grand Double Win (Buffalo Man) scrambled into second, a head in advance of Georgian Ease (Super Easy) in third.
Prepared by K H Leong, Satono Eternal is the first son of the great Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) to race in Macau; his dam So Many Ways (Sightseeing) was unbeaten as a two-year-old in the United States, winning at the highest level in the Spinaway Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) at Saratoga.
Prior to arriving in Macau, the gelding raced seven times in Japan and placed second on two occasions at Chukyo and Kyoto and picked up two thirds at Hanshin, all in high level prize-money races earning over 9 million yen.
Staying races are definitely his caper, and going on his huge win Sunday, connections can look forward to more trips to the winners’ circle.