Fownes primed as Jumbo Blessing bids for four straight
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By Paul Ryding
No trainer will be as pleased as defending champion Caspar Fownes to see Sunday’s (1 November) action staged at the city circuit with the Happy Valley specialist already having registered nine wins at the famous old course.
The five-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer saddles eight runners at the once-in-a-season Happy Valley weekend meeting.
Fownes, who sits second in the trainers’ standings on 13 wins – two behind early leader Pierre Ng (15) – sent out a record 46 winners at the Valley last term and looks capable of challenging that mark again this season.
One of his leading chances on Sunday is progressive five-year-old Jumbo Blessing (122lb), who makes his Class 3 bow in the Zhaoqing Handicap (1000m) after racking up three straight wins in Class 4 from nine career runs. Vincent Ho, who has been aboard for the last two wins, keeps the reins, and Fownes said the Starspangledbanner gelding is now racing with purpose.
“He’s started to understand what it’s about. It took us a long time to get him there. He could be quite gobby in the mornings – he still is a little bit, but under race pressure, he’s starting to chill out a bit more. He’ll need to do that again, but luckily, he draws beautifully in gate two, so it gives him the opportunity to get a nice run.”
The talented Australian-bred made an underwhelming start to life in Hong Kong, failing to place in any of his first six starts. Was Fownes surprised by how quickly Jumbo Blessing, whom the handicapper has put up 19 rating points over his last three runs, managed to turn around his fortunes?
“No. He’s always had it,” Fownes said. “He’s always had a lot of talent. I said to the owners, ‘we just need to be patient, nurture him a bit, and it’ll come’. They’ve let me do my job, and it’s all coming together nicely.”
The day’s trophy race is the intriguing Class 2 Kwangtung Handicap Cup (1200m), which sees three hardened speedsters – Lucky With You (135lb), Victor The Winner (132lb) and Son Pak Fu (120lb) – with 25 Hong Kong victories between them, face a younger generation of rising sprinters.
Ricky Yiu, fifth in the trainers’ standings on 10 wins for the season, saddles two runners in the 10-horse field.
Yiu is confident five-year-old Rising Force (122lb) can add to his tally of four wins from 13 starts.
“I think he loves a smaller track. He always jumps well. He’s one of the leaders, and he loves the lead,” Yiu said of the Deep Field gelding, all four of whose wins have come following prominent rides. “He’s a small-sized horse, and he has a very good turn of foot. We’ll try to copy the tactics that we did before.”
Rising Force will be ridden by the in-form Nichola Yuen, fresh off her second treble of the season at Sha Tin on Wednesday night (28 October). Indentured to Yiu, the apprentice has combined with him for seven of her 16 wins so far this term, and the veteran handler has been pleased by her progress.
“Her riding is picking up step by step. She’s gradually building up her confidence. I’m really happy with her performances. But she still has a lot of improvement to do,” Yiu added.