3 minute read
Rainbow Chic took the plaudits at Happy Valley’s final fixture of the current season.
The talented five-year-old tracked in midfield through the 1800m Class 1 contest and jockey Zac Purton appeared to have plenty of horse beneath him as he began to edge into contention on the home turn. Rainbow Chic (122lbs) swept home down centre track for a half-length verdict over Sunny Ying (115lbs), who was in turn a head in front of his John Moore-trained stablemate Same World (123lbs).
Rainbow Chic’s win, his first since scoring in this race 12 months ago, snared a double on the night for Fownes and Purton, who also teamed up earlier on the card with the strongly-supported Family Interests.
“When I saw there was some speed on I was very confident in the run,” said Fownes, who moved into second place in the trainers’ championship with 50 wins for the season, three behind the current leader John Size.
“This horse is pretty tractable nowadays and he has enough experience to take a bit of a chill pill in the run. He’s a bit of an in-betweener and he’ll go into those set-weight races next season when he’ll get his chance to prove whether or not he’s good enough.”
A crowd of 16,674 enjoyed a party atmosphere at the Valley as premiership leader Purton continued his progress towards what would be the Australian’s first Hong Kong jockeys’ championship. The rider’s double took his season’s tally to 102 and extended his lead over second placed Joao Moreira to 17.
Fellow Australian Christian Reith kicked off the card with his first Hong Kong win as he partnered the Chris So-trained Lucky Choice to land the spoils in the Class 5 Wang Tak Handicap (1800m).
Happy Valley will close for the final weeks of the current season to undergo construction work in connection with the Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage Scheme being implemented by the Drainage Services Department. The racecourse is scheduled to reopen in mid-October. Sha Tin will stage the final nine fixtures of the 2013/14 season including the remaining three night meetings.
