Tsui hopes hard work pays dirt dividends amid testing season

It has been slim picking so far this season for Me Tsui Yu-sak with only five winners from the first 56 meetings, but the veteran handler heads to Sha Tin on Wednesday night with a couple of chances and the hope that his hard work will see the tide turn sooner rather than later.

Traditionally a really solid mid-table trainer, Tsui has found things tougher in the past couple of years, but he has not lost his will to keep grinding.

“I’m doing what I can do. I’m putting my head down and keeping on going to work,” Tsui said.

The 62-year-old last tasted success courtesy of Fortune President’s victory on February 26, and he hopes the four-year-old can again be in the finish over the same course and distance in Wednesday night’s Class Four Kiu Tsui Handicap (1,650m), one of eight all-weather races on an all-dirt card.

A winner at $52 last start thanks to a plum steer from Keith Yeung Ming-lun, Fortune President must overcome gate 13 under Vagner Borges on this occasion, but he carries only two pounds more after his last-time-out win came in a 60-35 Class Four.

“The draw makes it a little bit difficult this time. Last time was amazing – by the time they passed the winning post [on the first occasion], he’d already found the rail in midfield. I think he could do with some luck,” Tsui said.

Happy Tango returns to the course and distance of a second under Yeung two starts back, and with the jockey sidelined with concussion after a fall at Sha Tin on Sunday, Tsui has turned to apprentice Angus Chung Yik-lai for the second section of the Class Four Pui O Handicap (1,200m).

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“Taking the seven pounds off should help a lot and barrier four makes it easy to lead. He has always puts in very good performances in his trials on the dirt, but in races sometimes it depends on the pace,” Tsui said of Happy Tango, who has won his past two all-weather trials.

Tsui also saddles Dragon Kingdom, Superb Daddy, Wah May Luck, Eight Trigrams and Harmony And Rich, the latter of whom will look to carry over his form from a last-start second over Happy Valley’s 1,000m into the night’s feature, a hot Class Two Tung Wan Handicap (1,200m) featuring the likes of Nervous Witness, Campione and Super Win Dragon.

“I had no choice. There’s nearly seven weeks of no [Class Two sprints] at Happy Valley and he always trials well on the dirt, so I’ll give him his chance. His last two starts on the dirt have been so-so, but now he’s matured maybe he can handle it,” Tsui said of Harmony And Rich, another with wins in his past two dirt hit-outs.

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