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[Healthy Life once again showed that he is Macau’s dominant sand sprinter with another sterling victory in the Warwick Class 1 Handicap over 1050m at Taipa on Saturday.
Ridden by regular rider Peter Ho, Healthy Life had to dig in late to grab Sino Brilhante (Ronnie Stewart) to win by a half length, with River Bobo (Luis Corrales) running on for third.
It was win number eight on the all-weather for the son of Northern Meteor and his fourth at the 1050 metre distance.Prepared by Kim Cheong the five year old has not been defeated in his last six runs on the sand, and Saturdays win brings his overall record to eight wins and six placings from his 22 starts in Macau.
The former David Hayes galloper even went within a head of winning the G3 Macau Sprint Trophy over 1000m on the turf when running a cracking third off a wide gate behind The Alfonso and River Bobo a fortnight back.Second placed Sino Brilhante ran a mighty race at only his second start in over 12 months to go down narrowly and will be vastly improved by the run.
“I was really happy with his performance he just folded late with the weight he had to concede to Healthy Life.” Trainer James Moore said.“There is still a win or two in him yet it’s just all about keeping him sound and happy now.”
Sino Brilhante who only has one eye has won 12 races on the all weather surface and was Macau’s sand sprinting star before succumbing to soundness issues last October.The son of Good Journey (USA) lost his offside eye in a paddock accident as a foal and in most racing jurisdictions worldwide would not even be racing.
• FORMER jockey Rambo Tse continued his great start to his first season as a trainer producing another promising winner in Friday night’s Class 3 over 1050 metres on the sand.Master Of Assayer was having his first run in Macau and after having no joy being posted deep in the run, hit the line powerfully under Peter Ho to defeat Woodney (Ronnie Stewart) by a length and a quarter on the line, with Sir Caspur (Charles Perkins) a neck away in third.
The son of Duke Of Marmalade raced in Australia as The Assayer and placed second at Cranbourne and a third at Ararat in his only two runs on the turf when prepared by Robert Smerdon.Rambo Tse only has a small team in work at present of 14 horses but has had six winners and four placings from only 16 runners for the season, giving him a win strike rate of 33% and a place strike of 56%.
Victor Chan was another trainer that produced a nice debutant in Good Alloy on Friday night.Good Alloy led throughout in the Class 4 & 5 over 1050 metres to easily beat Vancouver Jaguar (Peter Ho), with another debut runner Bunce (David Chong) in third.
A nice looking son of Onemorenomore (Aus) Good Alloy was an $110,000 Aud purchase by Hawkes Racing at the Inglis Sydney Easter Sale in 2013.The now four year old has been in Macau a long while with his first jump out over a year back but has had some soundness issues that hopefully are resolved according to Victor Chan.
“He was originally with another trainer when he arrived I think about 18 months ago.” Chan said.“He had tendon problems and he was later transferred to my stable and I rested him a long while and have just been patient with him.”
“He is a nice horse and provided that I can keep him sound he will win more races.”Victor Chan was again in the winner’s circle on Saturday when his Testa Rossa (Aus) gelding Lionheart Man led for most of the race to score in the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres.
Chan purchased Lionheart Man on the strength of a nice barrier trial win at Echucha in March this year and feels the horse is just starting to put it all together.“He was a little disappointing at first considering he won his first trial here for me on the sand but I think the step up in distance has been the main thing for him”
“He is a nice looking big strong horse that looks like he will enjoy the middle distance races and like all the Testa Rossa’s he likes the sand.” Chan said.