Race for the Trainers’ Championship: Fownes poised to claim a fifth title

As we embark on the final fortnight of the 2025/26 Hong Kong racing season, Caspar Fownes remains firmly in the driver’s seat after an absorbing battle for the trainers’ title.

Fownes, who sits on 66 winners through 84 of the term’s 88 meetings, is five victories clear of his nearest rival, and he will aim to strengthen his stranglehold on the trainers’ championship at Sha Tin this Saturday (4 July).

While the title race has featured as many as half a dozen legitimate contenders in recent times, it is now only Danny Shum (61 victories) and Mark Newnham (60) with any real hope of running over the top of Fownes late.

Fownes appears to have bullets still to fire, however, and he will saddle up seven runners at Sha Tin this weekend.

While Fownes has been far from the most prolific trainer on the Sha Tin dirt this season, sitting seventh in the unofficial standings, it could be the all-weather track where he is most likely to strike on Saturday.

In his second run back from a right hind ligament injury, Pejibaye will look to go one better than his first-up second in the Class 4 The Chan Trophy Handicap (1200m).

After showing plenty of promise across seven starts on the turf, winning once and running second three times, Fownes chanced his arm with Pejibaye on the dirt on the galloper’s return run, and he seemed to relish the surface, sticking on strongly to beat all but Mega Captain.

Fownes is also represented in the meeting’s other all-weather fixture, the Class 5 The Wong Cup Handicap (1200m), with Daily Trophy, who is never without a chance on his favourite surface.

Fownes will also have high hopes for Decision Link in the Class 4 The Arculli Trophy Handicap (1400m) and the returning Perfect General in the Class 3 The Philip Chen Trophy Handicap (1200m), who was an impressive winner when last seen in early April.

Shum will run the in-form Grouper on the quick back-up, with the improving three-year-old lining up in the Class 4 The Stevenson Cup Handicap (1200m) after finishing second last start.

Newnham won’t be heading to the track loaded with winning chances, but he will be hopeful of improvement from All Out For Six in the Class 3 The Philip Chen Handicap (1200m).

Trainers’ Ranking (Top 6) – As of 2 July, 2026: