Matthew Chadwick says the frenetic tempos of Flying High’s past three races have contributed to his hat-trick of victories but believes the straight-track specialist’s new relaxed mindset means his chance of extending his winning sequence on Sunday is not pace dependent.
The leaders of those three Sha Tin 1,000m sprints – noted jump-and-run speedsters Super Axiom (February 19) and Cheval Valiant (March 26 and May 7) – covered the opening 200m between 0.23 seconds and 0.32s faster than their respective class benchmarks, which enabled Chadwick to settle Flying High off the pace before asking him for his effort in the closing stages.
It played out perfectly for Chadwick and Flying High, Chris So Wai-yin’s five-year-old galloper winning each of those high-pressure contests by a neck to lift his earnings beyond HK$4 million and his rating to 76, well above his September 2020 import mark of 68.
Flying High led all the way to win two of his four Australian starts – both of his victories occurred at provincial courses north of Sydney. However, Chadwick says he and So never thought leading was his forte.
“We always knew we had to ride him quietly, but he was over-racing,” said Chadwick, who has partnered Flying High 14 times for four wins and three placings.
“Unfortunately, he was hitting races where we wanted to bring him back, but they were going too slow. Most of his races early on here didn’t pan out for him.
“We had to teach him to come back and relax because we knew once he’d do that, he’d have a turn of foot.
“Before he started winning, he was over-aggressive, trying too hard and jumping too well for his own good.
“Now he’s more relaxed, but it’s still a fine line with him because he’s got only about a 150m dash. You can’t go too early, or he peaks on his run.
“That’s why he’s best ridden conservatively, and that’s why he’s probably better suited up in grade because good horses take him further into races.”
Chadwick, who celebrated his 300th Sha Tin win last weekend aboard Frankie Lor Fu-chuen’s sprinter Super Highway, requires three more victories to join Tony Cruz and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu as the only home-grown jockeys to ride 500 winners in Hong Kong.
Unsurprisingly for a rider known for keeping his feet firmly on the ground, Chadwick says reaching the 500-win milestone is not occupying his mind.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Chadwick said. “I’m trying to get as many winners as possible.
“I had a quiet night on Wednesday, which I’m not too happy about. The track was dead. There was no substance to it. It favoured too many front runners.
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“My horses drew decent gates, but going forward wasn’t any of their patterns, apart from Super Axiom, and Super Commander was in his race, so there was too much pace.”
Chadwick has a full book of 10 rides at Sha Tin on Sunday, with the Tony Cruz Award holder steering Magic Traveller, The Final Word, Alloy Star, Young Victory, Turquoise Alpha, Red Hare King, Flying High, Northern Beaches, All For St Paul’s and Midori Beauty.
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