Lor lands dirt treble a week before trying to spring Champions Day surprise on turf

He will be looking to spring a surprise on the Sha Tin turf in next weekend’s Champions Day features, but on Sunday Frankie Lor Fu-chuen was the king of the dirt, reeling off a treble on the surface to add impetus to his hunt for back-to-back trainers’ premierships.

Victories to Hava Nageela, Everyone’s Victory and Youthful Deal saw Lor snare three of Sunday’s four dirt contests – Danny Shum Chap-shing won the other with $27 outsider Iron Will – and move into second place in the trainers’ premiership on 48 wins, four behind leader John Size.

“I’m just trying to stay close. My old boss is a champion and hard to beat, but I’ll always try,” Lor said of his title defence.

Lor has won more dirt races than anyone else in 2022-23, with his treble moving him to 11 all-weather wins for the campaign and seeing him surpass Benno Yung Tin-pang’s 10, and Hava Nageela and Youthful Deal were ringing up consecutive victories on the surface.

Both gapped their rivals – Hava Nageela winning the Class Three D’Aguilar Peak Handicap (1,650m) by two lengths and Youthful Deal the Class Three Kowloon Cricket Club Centenary Cup (1,200m) by two and three-quarter lengths – and while it was a no-brainer for Lor to keep the pair on the dirt, he has by no means pigeon holed them.

“Hava Nageela doesn’t need to only run on dirt – turf is still OK – so this win makes me happy. But I think we’ll head to the Class Two 1,650m on the dirt on May 10,” the trainer said.

“Youthful Deal ran well on the dirt, so I just kept him on the dirt, but I think he can also handle the turf.”

Everyone’s Victory’s win in the Class Four Mount Davis Handicap (1,200m) was the middle peg of Lor’s treble – his second all-weather three-timer in the past month.

“Today, the horses were all in good form and they all put in a good performance,” he said.

Lor had to settle for second best twice on the turf on Sunday, with Sword Point runner-up to Straight Arron in the Class Two Wan Chai Gap Handicap (1,800m) and Ready To Win beaten by Reve Parisien – who was having his first start for Peter Ho Leung after switching from Pierre Ng Pang-chi – in the Class Three Association Of Hong Kong Racing Journalists Challenge Cup (1,200m).

While Lor expects to have as many as seven runners at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, he is already got one eye on next weekend’s Group Ones.

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He has got a runner in all three features, saddling Master Eight in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1,200m), Healthy Happy in the Champions Mile and Money Catcher in the QE II Cup (2,000m), and he is hoping the booking of Joao Moreira can extract a little bit extra out of Master Eight.

“Joao has won five times on this horse, and he said he didn’t have a ride in the race. It’s good to have him on, and the owner is happy,” Lor said.

“Healthy Happy and Money Catcher are both in good form. I hope Money Catcher will run better again because 2,000m is good for him. Last time at 1,600m, he still finished second, so I hope he can run a good race.”

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