Man’s Valley ‘expert’ fires on return to city circuit after Derby ninth

Manfred Man Ka-leung’s Encountered continued his love affair with Happy Valley on Wednesday night, bouncing out of his ninth place in last month’s Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) at Sha Tin to take out the Class Two Wyndham Handicap (1,650m) at the city circuit.

Encountered improved his record over the extended Valley mile to three wins and one second from four starts, and Man was impressed with what he saw from one of the more progressive gallopers in his stable.

“He’s an expert at the Valley mile. He shows us he loves one mile at Happy Valley. The track is a little bit softer, which I think is more suitable for him. He looks a nice horse – he’s won in Class Two, so he’s already nice,” Man said.

An also-ran in the four-year-old series, with a Classic Cup 12th to go with his Derby ninth, Encountered was the first horse out of this term’s Classic Series finale to run again, and he joins Rapper Dragon, Beauty Generation and Dark Dream as the only gallopers in the past seven seasons to win a race fewer than 30 days after tackling the Derby.

After travelling one out, one back under Derek Leung Ka-chun as a $5.9 chance, Encountered proved too strong in the run to the line to defeat Gorytus ($4.2) by a length, with favourite Nimble Nimbus third.

“It was good. He’s always very honest, especially at Happy Valley. Tonight, we had a good draw, and after the Derby, he was freshened up and the blinkers were taken off. He was so smooth in the race tonight, and in the end he kept fighting,” Leung said. “The track here is soft and seems to suit European horses.”

Earlier in proceedings, the Jamie Richards-trained Rattan Kingdom saluted for the third time this term in his maiden Class Three outing when winning the Sports Club Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup (1,650m) under Karis Teetan.

“He’s been racing very consistently. He’d just been struggling a bit up the top of the weights in Class Four. We stepped him up to 1,400m at Sha Tin last time, but we’ve always believed he’s quite effective at Happy Valley,” Richards said of his five-year-old, who was racing over a mile for the first time this season.

“Tonight, he benefited from being up in class but down in weight. Karis gave him a lovely ride and everything is going well with the horse. Long may it continue.”

Rattan Kingdom’s success was the second of a double for Teetan after he captured the opening Class Three Cochrane Handicap (2,200m) aboard the Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-trained Natural Storm.

The Tony Cruz-trained Atomic Energy was one of a couple of gallopers to string together consecutive victories, winning the Class Four Graham Handicap (1,000m) under Angus Chung Yik-lai, while Richard Gibson’s One For All was the other.

After breaking his maiden at start nine last month, One For All continued his momentum by tasting success under Lyle Hewitson in the first section of the Class Four Glenealy Handicap (1,200m).

“He’s a good horse. I bought this horse as a yearling in Australia. He’s by a very good stallion from Europe [No Nay Never], and to be honest, I was surprised he didn’t do better at the beginning of his career. But he’s just got bigger and stronger, and I expect him to improve,” Gibson said.

Hewitson went on to land a double thanks to the victory of Xponential in the Class Three Shelley Handicap (1,200m), a win that also formed the second leg of Douglas Whyte’s brace after the trainer snared the second section of the Glenealy Handicap with the Harry Bentley-ridden Happy Trio.

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