National Day Cup winner Stoltz headlines Lui’s second successive Sha Tin treble

Short-course specialist Stoltz’s Group Three National Day Cup (1,000m) win formed the centrepiece of Francis Lui Kin-wai’s second consecutive Sha Tin treble on Sunday as the early trainers’ championship leader continued his best beginning to a campaign.

Stoltz completed his hat-trick of victories across two seasons on his first start in a Group race after Lui had enjoyed two lower-level National Day successes with Moduleconstruction in the second section of the Class Three Shanghai Handicap (1,200m) and Chancheng Glory in the Class Four Nanning Handicap (1,600m).

A Class Two winner over 1,000m at Happy Valley and Sha Tin late last term, Stoltz tracked Kurpany through the modestly run early and middle stages of the National Day Cup before he moved to the front 150m out and repelled Adios’ determined challenge.

All of Stoltz’s six Hong Kong triumphs have occurred in 1,000m events. The only time the six-year-old chestnut sprinter has finished worse than second in his 10 city contests over the minimum distance, he returned to Happy Valley’s unsaddling area lame.

With no 1,000m races graded higher than Group Three on Hong Kong’s programme – and the only other black-type dash over five furlongs the Bauhinia Sprint Trophy in January – Lui knows Stoltz would have to step up in trip to win at a more prestigious level.

However, when asked if he is contemplating running Stoltz in the Group Two Premier Bowl (1,200m) on October 22, Lui was non-committal in his answer.

“I think 1,000m is Stoltz’s best distance, but there aren’t many 1,000m races for him,” Lui said. “Maybe I’ll have to try him over 1,200m again one day.”

As the only rider to win aboard Stoltz in Hong Kong, few people know the horse better than Zac Purton. The city’s six-time champion jockey expressed doubts about the in-form speedster’s ability to claim a Group event beyond 1,000m on a turning track.

“If there was a race up the straight, he’d have a chance,” Purton said. “But it’s a completely different beast for him over 1,200m.”

An unlikely source supplied Purton with the first of his two victories at Sha Tin on Sunday – the man whose run of 13 jockeys’ titles he ended, Douglas Whyte.

Class Five Shenyang Handicap (1,800m) favourite Splendid Star was Purton’s first assignment for Whyte since March and only the Australian rider’s 44th engagement for the South African handler. They have combined for just five wins since Whyte swapped the jockeys’ room for the trainers’ tower four years ago.

Their rivalry in the saddle means Whyte and Purton are unlikely to develop a friendship. However, the former had no qualms about booking the latter – “I’m here to produce winners for my owners and run a business” – to steer his recent recruit from retired handler Peter Ho Leung.

“Zac is, obviously, the flavour of the month wherever you go,” said Whyte, whose Hong Kong record of 1,813 victories is in Purton’s sights. “When you get asked if he’s available, and foremost, when he picks up the phone and asks you for the ride – well, you can’t deny both of those. They’re both positives.

“The owner asked for him, and he asked for the ride. It’s a business, and I’m here to produce winners for my owners and run a business.”

Whyte praised Purton for his initiative on Splendid Star, but the trainer could not resist criticising the rider for winning by such a wide margin.

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“Zac sussed out the pace very quickly. They were going too slow. He made a decisive decision to go into a more prominent position than we thought he’d be. It was probably the winning move,” Whyte said.

“Splendid Star is probably going to get too many points, thanks to Zac, but I’m happy the horse won.”

Whyte completed a National Day double of his own when Blue Marlin justified Class Three Tianjin Handicap (1,400m) favouritism under Harry Bentley, who also partnered Lui’s Chancheng Glory to victory.

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