Taipa treble for Cheong
A treble on Saturday afternoon’s all-weather program at Taipa has given former Champion trainer Sio Cheong a great kick start for the new season, giving him five winners from the first three race days.
Cheong got off the mark quickly with the Australian import Blackjack Mok (All Too Hard) in the first of the day, the 0 to 45 Special Conditions race over 1510 metres.
Blackjack Mok was put into the race out of the gates by Luis Corrales to park on the back of pacemaker Heart Of Iu Cheong (Intrinsic) and was always traveling like the winner in the run. Once heads were turned for home Corrales set the gelding alight, and he let down nicely to race away for an easy three and a quarter lengths win over Epinart (Thorn Park), with favourite Star Of City Gold (Swiss Ace) winding up in third.
It was win number two in Macau for Blackjack Mok, who originally commenced his racing career with Chris Waller at Rosehill. Purchased for AUD$290,000 at the 2016 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sales, the gelding won a Wyong maiden over 1600 metres racing as Devil’s Luck, and placed on three other occasions from his 12 starts in Australia, before being exported to Macau.
Ironically, Saturday marked 13 years since his dam Devil Moon (King Cugat) won the Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Flemington.
The gelding proved to be a bit of a handful early in Macau and on two separate occasions tried to savage another horse during a race. Cheong, it appears, now seems to have the gelding focused on racing.
The ease of Saturday’s win suggests more victories are in store and though his two wins in Macau have been on the sand, his talents are not just reserved to the surface with five placings in decent company on the turf.
Cheong didn’t wait long to post his next winner: Red Phoenix (Sidereus), who stormed home to victory via the rail in race two, the Class 4 over 1350 metres under Frankie Choi.
Red Phoenix was friendless in the betting, jumping at odds of $341 (for a $10 unit) for the win, but he picked up his maiden win in Macau after 14 starts.
The five-year-old is much-travelled, having started his career with Toowoomba trainer Mark Webb, before ending up in North Queensland with Ricky Ludwig at Atherton.
The gelding proved to be consistent, winning seven of his 26 runs and placing nine times collecting over AUD$200,000 in prize money along the way.
Casino Mok (Casino Prince) rounded out Cheong’s day with a brilliant all-the-way win in the Class 3 over 1350 metres under Eric Cheung.
In a daring ride, Cheung set the seven-year-old alight out of the gates to lead clearly and kept the tempo hard up front. The gelding maintained a strong gallop right down to the wire and held on to win by three-quarters of a length over equal favorite Still So Cute (Thewayyouare), with Eclair Mirage (Ocean Park) in third.
Casino Mok, who raced as Lord Macau in Australia and was even entered in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) as a three-year-old, commenced his racing career with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott after being purchased for AUD$170,000 at the 2015 Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sales.
The gelding won three races from 24 starts, two of those over 1400 metres and another over 1600 metres and did place over 1900 metres at Canterbury. However, in Macau, the bay has really found his niche in sprints, having won five races with four of those over the 1200 metres.
Cheong was crowned Champion Macau trainer in his debut season in 2015-16 with 43 winners and was runner-up to Stanley Chin on 41 winners, to Chin’s 52 victories, in 2018-19. With some nice recent additions, Cheong could be a dominant force in the championship race this season.
Alan Tam, another former champion trainer, got himself on the scoreboard for the new season when he led in the last two winners on the card with Harvest Year (Power) and Rose Hero (Snitzel).
Harvest Year, a full brother to Tam’s brilliant sprinter Fasuba, got home in the Class 5 & 6 over 1050 metres with a last stride lunge under Roger Yu to beat Silent Height (Redwood) in a deceiving finish that fooled many.
Harvest Year stretched late and got his head down right on the line to win by a nose to give him two wins from only four starts.
Harvest Year is much in the same mould as Fasuba, who has won nine races on the sand. Both are not the biggest of horses but are well put together, solidly built types; both have slick gate speed and plenty of tenacity.
Whilst Harvest Year has a long way to go to reach the heights of Fasuba, his win on Saturday showed great determination to pull three lengths off Silent Height over the last 100 metres.
Rose Hero is another very promising horse that Tam has in his yard judging by his win in the last of the day, the Class 4 over 1510 metres.
Ridden by J B Hamel, Rose hero was always travelling well in the run before darting away at the 200 metres for a big win.
A New Zealand import, Rose Hero raced there as Autumn Flash where he won a 1400-metre maiden at Matamata on a good track, and placed on three more occasions whilst in the care of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, so his future will not just be confined to the all-weather surface.