No trainer hitting pay dirt this season more often than reigning champion Lor

Frankie Lor Fu-chuen leads the unofficial all-weather trainers’ title race ahead of Wednesday night’s dirt-only meeting, and he expects Hava Nageela to be the best of his three runners in the Class Two feature.

Lor has celebrated 11 all-weather victories this term – one more than Benno Yung Tin-pang – and Hava Nageela has been responsible for two of them after excelling on a surface that most gallopers either love or hate.

Recruited from Ken Condon’s stable in Ireland, where he won the last three of his eight pre-import races, Hava Nageela failed to win his way into any of this season’s Classic Series events, finishing second, third, fifth, sixth and eighth in his five Hong Kong starts before Voyage Bubble claimed the Derby that Edmond Siu Kim-ping hoped his horse would contest.

However, Hava Nageela has gone some way to recouping Siu’s outlay by dominating back-to-back Class Three 1,650m dirt races under Silvestre de Sousa, banking nearly HK$4 million in prize money and bonuses and lifting his handicap rating from 68 to 84.

Awarded eight- and seven-point penalties for his big wins since Lor switched him back to the all-weather track on which he made both of his first two local appearances, Hava Nageela lines up in Class Two as he seeks to complete a hat-trick of dirt victories.

Lor also saddles Everyone’s Delight and True Legend in the Class Two Sha Tin Heights Handicap (1,650m). Even though all three of his representatives in Wednesday night’s finale have won over the course and distance since late February, Lor thinks Hava Nageela is the one to whom punters should pay the most respect.

“Because [Hava Nageela] is still young, he keeps improving,” Lor said. “He should be the best of mine.”

Whereas Everyone’s Delight gets a first-time rider in Antoine Hamelin, True Legend reunites with the jockey under whom he has registered two wins and two minor placings from their five collaborations this term, Angus Chung Yik-lai. The seven-pound claimer regains the ride from Jack Wong Ho-nam.

Like Hava Nageela, Class Three Eagle’s Nest Handicap (1,200m) runner Everyone’s Victory is a Lor-trained galloper seeking to build on a last-start all-weather win, but he must do so without his triumphant rider.

Hugh Bowman was aboard Everyone’s Victory when the five-year-old sprinter won a Class Four event on April 23, but the Australian jockey cannot ride anywhere near as light as 117 pounds.

Vincent Ho Chak-yiu teams up with Everyone’s Victory, and even he has indicated to Jockey Club stewards he is unlikely to make the weight. Ho hopes to hit the scales at 118 pounds.

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Lor has concluded what Everyone’s Victory likes and what Everyone’s Victory hates. He likes racing on the dirt. He hates racing on the turf. It is that simple.

“I tried [Everyone’s Victory] on the turf, but he wasn’t good,” Lor said. “If a horse handles the dirt – and he’s won on the dirt three times – I keep him on the dirt. He’s got a light weight this time, and I hope Vincent Ho can help him win in Class Three.”

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