Luke Ferraris continued a blistering form surge with success aboard veteran sprinter Lucky With You at Sha Tin on Sunday, leaving the young South African jockey with three feature victories in 10 days.
Buoyant after wins in the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) on My Wish at Sha Tin on 31 January and the HK$3.12 million Class 2 Tsun Yip Handicap (1650m) on Mr Ascendency at Happy Valley on Wednesday (February 5), Ferraris continued a stunning season with Lucky With You’s triumph.
Ferraris, 23, produced a copybook ride on Frankie Lor’s seven-year-old, who had been competing at Group 1 level against champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising and clearly appreciated the drop in grade.
Sitting fourth on the rails throughout, Ferraris drove dual Group 1 runner-up Lucky With You (129lb) between Harmony N Blessed and Magic Control inside the final 100m before powering clear of Gorgeous Win (123lb) and Magic Control (127lb) in 1:08.47.
Lor said: “Class 1 is different for him because usually he’s in Group 1 or Group 2. He’s seven years old now and it was great to get another win for the owners. Perfect ride by Luke.”
Having his first ride on the Artie Schiller gelding, Ferraris was elated after extending a remarkable run of form.
“He (Lucky With You) is a lovely, game horse. He’s a real soldier. He does have a bit of a short sprint so the way the race panned out was ideal. We got behind a nice horse, Magic Control, and he pulled us through to the 250m and when he had done his job, Harmony N Blessed started to fall away,” Ferraris said.
“It worked out really nicely and he hit the gap really strongly and powered away to the line, so thanks to Frankie and his team. Hopefully we can keep rolling. The support has been fantastic and I’ll be looking to keep that going and if it does, hopefully I can keep capitalising on the decent rides.”
Californiatotality advanced HK$26 million Hong Kong Derby (2000m) hopes with victory for Tony Cruz. Ridden by Brenton Avdulla, the Zoustar gelding notched his fifth win from 16 starts.
Cruz made it a double when Righteous Arion clinched the Class 3 TVB Heroes In White Handicap (1200m) under Alexis Badel.
Jamie Richards posted his third winner in as many meetings when La Forza capped an eventful 24 hours with victory under Zac Purton.
A three-year-old by Toronado, La Forza posted his second win from four starts after galloping riderless at Sha Tin on Saturday morning after losing his rider.
“It was just unfortunate that he shied basically at the TV screen there. But he didn’t go too fast when he did a little quiet lap without the rider on and thankfully everything’s gone nice and smoothly for him today,” Richards said of La Forza’s trackwork incident.
“He’s a horse who last season was very immature and we backed off him and we thought we had him ready to go earlier in the season and we just had to back off him again because he was just a little bit shin sore. He was very weak last season but he’s put on a lot of weight and strengthened up.”
Purton took his tally to 84 wins for the season when David Eustace’s Light Years Charm swept to victory after Lyle Hewitson slotted a double, scoring aboard Benno Yung-trained Special Hedge and Francis Lui’s Gallant Epoch.
“Obviously, it’s fantastic. It’s just been a slow (start) this season but I feel like over the past two weeks, I’ve been feeling really good in the saddle and I think that is showing – and that’s a positive,” Hewitson said.
“On top of that, I’ve been given one or two opportunities each meeting which I’ve been able to convert.”
Pierre Ng reclaimed the lead in the 2024/25 trainers’ championship with Gale Saga’s victory for Matthew Poon before Dennis Yip’s Super Love landed the Class 4 TVB Pok Oi Charity Show Handicap (1200m) for Teetan.
Jimmy Ting posted his sixth win of the campaign when Flash Current snared the Class 4 TVB Po Leung Kuk Gala Spectacular Handicap (1200m) for Harry Bentley.
Winning Gold claimed the Class 3 The Fading Gold Handicap (1400m) for Karis Teetan and Chris So.
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