January Cup triumph highlights Happy Valley four-timer for Shum
Danny Shum surged to the top of the 2024/25 Hong Kong trainers’ championship with a four-timer at Happy Valley on Wednesday crowned by Helene Feeling’s (Sioux Nation) triumph in the January Cup (Gr 3, 1800m).
Shum dominated the undercard with Judy’s Great (War Decree), Happy Soul (Shooting To Win) and Eternal Fortune (Oasis Dream), rising to the top of the trainers’ standings with Helene Feeling’s (117lb) victory under Harry Bentley in Happy Valley’s only Group contest of the season.
With 27 wins, Shum leads Pierre Ng (26), Mark Newnham (24) and David Hayes (23) after 36 of 88 scheduled meetings.
“It’s just amazing, I’m very happy,” Shum said. “All four horses ran great races and the jockeys did a brilliant job.
“Helene Feeling likes Happy Valley more than Sha Tin, but unfortunately there aren’t many races for him here. I had to run him back at Sha Tin otherwise he would have had a big break and lost his fitness.”
Second to Helios Express (Toronado) in last season’s Hong Kong Classic Mile (Listed, 1600m), Helene Feeling settled in ninth place in a moderately-run race behind pace-setters Flamingo Trillion (Wndjina) and The Golden Scenery (Deep Field) before Bentley made his move approaching the home turn, fanning into clear running.
Driven to the line, the gelding prevailed by a half-length over last year’s January Cup winner Happy Together (Dragon Pulse) and La City Blanche (Cityscape), who charged from the tail of the field to claim third. The winner’s time was 1m 49.19s.
Bentley said: “They’re [Group 3 wins] not easy to come by and really glad to take the opportunity and kick him home. He’s a very good horse. He was a real contender for the [Hong Kong] Derby not so long ago, so clearly he has that natural class and he’s run a couple of really good races here before, finishing third in this race last year.
“So, we know he goes around the track. The wide draw [barrier nine] was always going to be a little bit tricky, just get a nice position through the race and we were going very slowly early doors. He probably didn’t come around the bend all that well but fair play to the horse, he really knuckled down in the straight.”
Shum combined with Dylan Mo and 64-1 outsider Judy’s Great in the third section of the Class 4 Great George Handicap (1200m), Vincent Ho and Happy Soul in the second section of the Class 4 Great George Handicap (1200m) and Hugh Bowman and Eternal Fortune in the Class 3 Causeway Handicap (1200m).
Bowman and Vincent Ho both slotted doubles.
Bowman combined with Caspar Fownes and Mighty Commander (Artie Shiller) to land the second section of the Class 4 Kingston Handicap (1650m). Formerly trained by Lucinda Boyd in Australia, the gelding prevailed at his eighth Hong Kong start.
Ho completed his brace aboard Francis Lui’s Speed Dragon (Darci Brahma) in the Class 3 Cleveland Handicap (1800m).
Zac Purton moved to within seven wins of equalling Douglas Whyte’s record mark of 1,813 victories in Hong Kong as a jockey with the Chris So-trained Firefoot’s (Shooting To Win) success in the first section of the Class 4 Kingston Handicap (1650m).
“Things haven’t gone that smoothly tonight. I had to wait for this winner and he just got into a race where there wasn’t much speed with a light weight [120lb]. I was able to control things and he deserved to win, he’s been quite honest,” said Purton, who has 66 victories for the season.
Pegasus General (Vettori) scored his first win since March 2023 when Derek Leung lifted the Brazilian Group 1 victor to success in the Class 5 Paterson Handicap (1650m). Having his first start for Cody Mo, the seven-year-old had dropped from 78 to 38 in the ratings, but showed plenty of fight for Leung.
The David Eustace-trained Fortune Whiskey (Embellish), a three-time winner as a two-year-old in New Zealand, notched his first victory in Hong Kong by triumphing in the first section of the Class 4 Great George Handicap (1200m) under Matthew Poon.