Kings Shield did not lead on his Korean misadventure last month, but Frankie Lor Fu-chuen expects him to show the way to hat-trick-seeking stablemate All For St Paul’s in Wednesday’s Class Two Kwok Shui Handicap (1,650m) on Sha Tin’s all-dirt card.
Four of the eight Kwok Shui Handicap runners – Tony Millard scratched Maximus late on Monday because of colic – have led all the way to win races, but it has been a long time since either Mighty Giant (18 months) or Berlin Tango (three and a quarter years) recorded victories using such aggressive tactics.
That leaves the Lor pair as the obvious pacesetters for Wednesday’s feature event, with the champion trainer believing Kings Shield finding the front under Zac Purton and All For St Paul’s finding his back under Matthew Chadwick would give him the best chance of saddling the Kwok Shui Handicap quinella.
“It depends how they jump, but I think Kings Shield is better off in front. All For St Paul’s can take a sit in second and he’ll still be OK,” Lor said.
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Purton has not partnered Kings Shield in any of the dirt specialist’s last dozen races, but the champion jockey has been aboard the eight-year-old for two of his four Hong Kong successes despite only riding him three times since he arrived in the city in 2018.
“This race has been the target for Kings Shield for a long time, so I’d booked Zac already,” Lor said.
“He trialled once at Conghua, but we could only trial on the turf because there were no dirt trials at that time. Obviously, he’s getting older, but he looks OK. You just never know as they get older.”
Chadwick accompanied Kings Shield to Seoul, where the combination had two minutes to forget in the Group Three Korea Cup (1,800m). Despite Chadwick’s urgings, Kings Shield failed to muster sufficient speed to lead from the inside gate, he resented the kickback and he finished a well-beaten ninth.
It was Chadwick’s first – and potentially last – ride of Kings Shield, but last season’s Tony Cruz Award-winning jockey has much happier recent memories of piloting All For St Paul’s.
Since Chadwick replaced Matthew Poon Ming-fai aboard All For St Paul’s, the six-year-old has won back-to-back Class Two turf contests spanning this term and last. On Wednesday, he reverts to the dirt.
Purton and Yung out to continue red-hot dirt form with in-form trio
“Because there are not many options for All For St Paul’s, I put him in also,” said Lor, whose in-form galloper has won on the dirt, albeit in Class Three company under Poon 13 starts and 19 months ago.
Lor missed Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting after testing positive to Covid, and he will be watching his horses from home again on Wednesday.
“I’ve had a bit of a sore throat and a temperature, but I’m OK. I’m not sure if I’ll be back on the weekend. Maybe only next Monday I’ll be back at work,” said Lor, who has six midweek entrants.
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