Caspar Fownes is Happy Valley’s leading all-time trainer and this Sunday he’s assembled a formidable hand for a rare afternoon fixture at the iconic city circuit.
Looking to improve his unrivalled 577 wins at Happy Valley, Fownes – revered as the ‘King of the Valley’ – has confirmed time after time that he’s one of Hong Kong’s finest ever trainers and he remains one of only four in racing history to reach 1,000 wins in the city after John Moore, John Size and Tony Cruz.
Since taking over his late father Lawrie’s stable and scoring a first win with Champion Boy in 2003 at Sha Tin, Fownes has only ever dipped below 40 wins in two seasons, while his highest score came from his fourth championship conquest in 2020/21 (79 wins).
“I’m pushing to get big numbers, like anything, we’ve had a massive run of placings and fourths and fifths – they’re all racing extremely well and it’s a bit hard to cop in a handicap system because you keep copping it, but we can’t complain, I’m on target and we’re hitting the numbers we want to hit,” Fownes said.
The 56-year-old has 12 wins so far this season, a score bettered by only Francis Lui (13) and Danny Shum (13), while both Pierre Ng and Frankie Lor have 11.
“I’m just worried about what I am doing and what everyone else does is immaterial to me. Let’s have some fun and hopefully we can be close come the end of the season. The plan is to try and set ourselves up for a fifth title, that would be lovely,” said Fownes, Hong Kong Champion Trainer in 2006/07, 2008/09, 2013/14 and 2020/21.
Fownes has netted over 50 wins in a season 11 times. The nearest active trainers to his record Happy Valley score are Tony Cruz (458), Francis Lui (374) and Ricky Yiu (367).
Leading his team of six runners this weekend is the in-form Kurpany, with jockey Alfred Chan aboard, who takes five pounds off his assigned 135lb as the race’s top-rater.
“Those races are quite strong and there’s not much between those and Class 1s sometimes, but he presents well, he’s fit and he gets five pounds off with Alfie on – he’s won on the horse before too, so hopefully we can get a good result,” Fownes said.
Kurpany won first-up at Sha Tin before finishing a commendable third behind Stoltz in the Group 3 National Day Cup Handicap (1000m) at the start of this month.
Sunday’s HK$2.84 million feature sees eight others go to post: Majestic Star (129lb), Ping Hai Galaxy (128lb), Whizz Kid (128lb), We Are Hero (127lb), Nervous Witness (126lb), Carroll Street (120lb), Seasons Wit (119lb) and Reward Smile (115lb).
June Planet placed five times last season but has since recorded consecutive wins. The Not A Single Doubt gelding tackles the afternoon’s finale for Fownes, with 118lb allocated and jockey Matthew Chadwick aboard.
“He’s won two in a row and he’s now going for three. He’s up in class but down in weight – he’s in good form and Chadwick rides. We’ll be hoping for a nice effort, you always hope those horses that progress into the next class can get a winning result because then you can still continue on an upward trend,” Fownes said.
Fownes has Atomic Force with jockey Harry Bentley engaged from barrier eight.
“He’s racing well, he has a big weight (135lb) but his last two runs have been with a lot of merit and he’s starting to understand what it’s about, he’s finally starting to take a bit of a chill pill mid-race, which is what he needs to do to be a nice horse,” Fownes said.
The Fownes-trained Royal Pride features with jockey Luke Ferraris up – the only rider to prevail aboard the horse. Fownes also saddles Packing Hurricane and Jumbo Legend, who boast five wins combined.
Looking to next month’s Group 3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m), Fownes could be represented by Straight Arron and Senor Toba in the contest at Sha Tin on November 5.
“Straight Arron is doing very well, I’m very happy with both of his runs. We’ll go to the Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse now and 1800 metres is where he’s just starting to come into his own, so I would be expecting a first three finish in that type of race,” Fownes said.
Straight Arron finished eighth in the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m) last start, while Senor Toba clocked a slick 22.29s for his last 400m in the same race to finish sixth.
“Senor Toba ran enormous (last start). His run was very good, he had the fastest last 400 metres of the race. So, hopefully he’s back and we know what he can do once he is back, he can certainly make his presence felt in some of those nice staying races,” Fownes said.
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