Corrales Stars with a treble
Luis Corrales was the star of Sunday’s racing after a sparkling treble moved him on to 31 winners for the season and a three-win lead over rival Eric Cheung in the jockeys’ premiership race.
Corrales, who is aiming for his sixth Macau jockeys’ title, has been under siege in recent weeks by Cheung who has been steadily closing the gap, and booted home four winners last weekend.
Luen On Prodigy (Husson) from the Geoff Allendorf yard was the first of Corrales’ winners when he came with a dazzling burst late to claim victory over race favorite Turquoise Square (Eurozone) in the first division of the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres.
It was win number three in the enclave for Luen On Prodigy, who was a cheap buy for owner Thomas Lau for just $35,000, at the 2018 Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO’s in Training Sale. After Sunday’s win, the four-year-old has returned Lau over HK$500,000 (approx. AUD$83,000) for his investment, with plenty more wins to come in the lower bracket races.
The win was also a fitting consolation for Allendorf after his more fancied runner, the second favorite Victory Supreme (Love Conquers All), lashed out in the gates after being loaded, sustaining some minor lacerations and was withdrawn.
Sheng Li Superstar (Harbour Watch) bounced back to form to win the day’s feature, the Class 1 over 1350 metres (sand), with a brilliant all the way victory under Corrales, to give him win number two for the afternoon.
Once a noted superstar on the sand, Sheng Li Superstar had been winless for almost a year after his form steadily declined. Sunday’s victory was his first run in three months, and Stanley Chin deserves plenty of accolades in getting the former top-notch galloper back to his best, after he beat a top-class field of 12 runners that had an accumulated winning prize- money of HK$24 million (approx. AUD$3.98m).
Sheng Li Superstar is raced by Frank Wong and has now won nine races in Macau and placed a further five times from 24 starts.
Akeli Sword (Dissident) capped off Corrales’ day when he sprinted away from his rivals in the last of the day, the Class 4 over 1350 metres to give trainer Allen Tam his sole winner for the afternoon.
The four-year-old has won four races and placed on six occasions from his 18 starts.
Peter Leyshan was back in the winner’s circle with a well-deserved victory going to Eclair Boom (Spirit Of Boom), under Japanese rider Masa Tanaka in the first division of the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres.
The five-year-old has been ultra-consistent with placings in six of his last seven outings, his only unplaced effort was on an unsuitable soft track where he still managed a creditable fourth.
The combination of Rambo Tse and Peter Lao continued on their winning way with the emerging sand star Captain Brentford (He’s Remarkable), making it three wins on the trot on the all-weather in the Class 3 & 4 over 1510 metres.
From only two starts in New Zealand for trainers David and Emma Haworth at Foxton, the gelding ran a creditable second at Otaki in a 1400-metre maiden on a slow track.
Since moving to Tse, the four-year-old is proving something special on the all-weather, and simply destroyed his rivals on Sunday for an effortless win.
Tse has only had a total of 54 runners for the season for 11 winners and ten placed efforts, giving him the best strike-rate of any trainer with a 20 per cent win and a 39 per cent place rate. Lao is enjoying a nice season and is now on 14 winners.