Girl Power To The Fore At Sha Tin

Girl power ruled in the Class 2 Yuen Long Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin this afternoon, Saturday, 8 October, as Kei Chiong and the incongruously-named Lucky Girl, a gelding, of course, held all at bay for a dominant victory.

For Chiong, last season’s Champion Apprentice and the darling of Hong Kong racing, the win brought up a first double this season, and a front-running brace at that, having made all atop Snow Slider earlier on the card.

The 7lb claimer angled Lucky Girl to the fore and claimed the fence without pressure from gate seven and there the duo remained. Chiong settled the rangy five-year-old into a raking rhythm, allowed her mount to relax through a steady third quarter and, with a length advantage turning in, kicked for home through a final 400m split of 22.74s. The winning time of 1m 33.49s set a new class record, bettering a mark that had stood since May, 1999.

“He’s a big horse with a long stride and when I looked at it beforehand I thought nothing would want to go on, so we would be able to go on and control the speed – but then he’s gone and run a class record, which is good for the horse,” said winning trainer Dennis Yip after watching his charge notch a third Hong Kong win at start 11.

“The main thing is that he keeps maturing. From last season to now his bodyweight has gone up and he’s much stronger – last season he was still very weak. I will try 1800 metres again, that will be no problem, but we’ll look at the programme and see. There’s an 1800-metre Class 2 race on the 23rd but after that I’ll have to see.”

David Morgan – http://racing.hkjc.com/racing Lucky Girl was a Pinhook Bloodstock private purchase in 2015