Avdulla goes bang with Sha Tin four-timer, while Poon cops six-meeting ban

While his only feature-race ride for the afternoon ended in a one-meeting suspension, Brenton Avdulla dominated Sunday’s Sha Tin undercard with a four-timer that further entrenches him in the Hong Kong riding ranks.

After three wins from 137 rides after arriving for the final two and a half months of last season, Avdulla had made a solid start to this campaign with six successes before reeling off four victories in a six-race blitz on Sunday.

“It’s a massive result. Obviously, I had just knocked over a few singles [previously] – I hadn’t even had a double until today,” Avdulla said. “I did think coming here today that this was my strongest book of rides. I had good gates.

“I thought with a bit of luck, I could get one or two – it worked out well to get three, now four. It’s a big result.”

Avdulla opened his account with victory aboard Star Club in the Class Four BOCHK Cross-Border Services Handicap (1,200m), with the four-year-old saluting in his first start for David Hall after switching from the stable of the retired Richard Gibson.

Owned by the same connections as four-time Group One winner Wellington – who was third in the Group Two BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) later on the card – Star Club broke through at start four, while another galloper sporting well-known silks disappointed as the $1.8 favourite.

Romantic Warrior’s owner, Peter Lau Pak-fai, shelled out HK$8.4 million for Romantic Hero at this year’s Hong Kong International Sale, but the three-year-old could only manage sixth on his debut despite being crunched in betting.

Avdulla then took out the Class Two BOCHK Asset Management Handicap (1,200m) aboard Helios Express, with John Size’s smart four-year-old ringing up his third straight win before he struck with Michael Chang Chun-wai’s Lost Child in the Class Four BOCHK Wealth Management Handicap (1,400m).

Rounding out the running treble that completed Avdulla’s quartet was the success of Hong Kong Derby hopeful Ensued, who defied barrier 12 to remain undefeated from two local starts in the Class Three BOC Credit Card Handicap (2,000m).

“It worked out really well. It was a wide draw, but the race panned out well. On the turn, I thought he was the winner. He’s a nice horse,” Avdulla said.

Avdulla jumped to sixth in the jockeys’ premiership on the back of his Sunday exploits, and his 10 victories put him in the hunt for a spot in the Longines International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) on December 6.

He will miss the meeting before the IJC, however, after being penalised for careless riding aboard Sight Success in the Jockey Club Sprint, a misdemeanour that also cost him HK$22,500.

Size sails past 1,500 HK wins as Beauty Eternal headlines fabulous four-timer

Poon hit for six

Avdulla wasn’t the only jockey to earn the ire of stewards, with Matthew Poon Ming-fai whacked with a six-meeting ban for “having failed to ride his mount out over the final one stride” aboard All For St Paul’s in the Class Two BOCHK SME In One Handicap (1,800m).

After leading the slowly run contest, All For St Paul’s was headed by eventual winner Champion Dragon inside the final 300m and then lost second place to Tourbillon Diamond on the line, with Poon sitting up a fraction and glancing across at his rivals as his mount crossed the line.

“In the circumstances and having regard to the margin between the second placing and the third placing of a nose, the stewards believed the appropriate penalty was for Poon’s licence to ride in races be suspended for a period to commence on December 6 and to expire December 24,” the stewards’ report reads.

Poon’s ban comes soon after Vincent Ho Chak-yiu was suspended for 10 meetings – reduced to eight and a fine on appeal – for failing to ride dead-heat winner Capital Delight to the line at Happy Valley last month.

Ho was on the end of another suspension on Sunday evening, with stewards banning him for one meeting and fining him HK$27,500 for careless riding aboard the victorious Straight Arron.

Derek Leung Ka-chun received a warning after dropping his whip aboard Group Two BOCHK Private Wealthy Jockey Club Mile runner-up Beauty Joy.

Beauty Joy was building momentum from the back of the field when Leung dropped his whip 250m from home, with his mount eventually finishing just a short head behind winner Beauty Eternal.

Jockey Club sweats on Japanese milers

Jockey Club officials are hopeful Sunday’s Group One Mile Championship winner Namur will accept an invitation to run in next month’s Group One Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin.

Namur is one of three Mile Championship runners who could represent Japan in the 1,600m feature at the Hong Kong International Races, with second-placed Soul Rush and Serifos also a chance to be included when the fields are released this Wednesday.

Although Serifos failed to post back-to-back victories in the top-level Kyoto event, he was only two and three-quarter lengths behind Namur in eighth place.

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