3 minute read
Eclair Sunshine has emerged as Macau's latest sand star.
His slashing win in last Saturdays Class 1 & 2 over 1350 metres resulted from Frankie Choi as Eclair Sunshine left his rivals standing at the top of the straight to win easily.
The win gave the son of All Too Hard two wins straight on the all-weather surface with his past five runs on the surface resulting in three wins and two second placings.
Prepared by Danny Wong, Eclair Sunshine was well out of it at the handicaps on his rating of 83 as opposed to the topweight Fasuba on his mark of 122.
He only got 17 pounds off him under the weight scale and had barrier 10 from the 1350m start, adding to the 5YOs daunting task.
However Choi pulled off a lovely bit of riding by slipping across into third place the rails after 300m and sliding through on the inside of Fasuba when he left the fence at the 700m
In the straight it was game over with the chestnut gelding powering away to win in the smart time of 1.20.3.
Eclair Sunshine commenced his career under Phillip Stokes in Adelaide and won a 2YO event at Morpehttville and five second placings including the Listed Exford Plate at Flemington.
Since arriving in Macau 13 months ago Eclair Sunshine has had 19 starts for four wins and five placings and collected well over the $HK1 million in stakes.
No jockey is riding better lately then Frankie Choi with the youngster picking up another victory in a dead heat aboard Pearl Lucky after the judge couldn't split the five year with race favorite To's Family (Ruan Maia) in the Class 2 over 1200 metres on Sunday.
In what was a frustrating early part of the season Choi beat a well-worn path to the stewards room for careless riding charges.
All that seems behind him as Choi is riding with a ton of confidence and judgment and making the most of new found opportunities.
Japanese import Eclair Hunter picked up his first victory in Macau with a gutsy effort in the Class 2 & 3 over 1800 metres on the turf on Sunday.
Prepared by Geoff Allendorf and ridden by Oscar Chavez, Eclair Hunter went home too strongly for Superlative Choice (Kakeru Mizuno), with Bring Me Glory (Luis Corrales) in third.
Eclair Hunter is a son of Novellist and is one of several recent arrivals in the enclave from Japan.
From his seven runs in Japan the 4YO gelding placed second on a soft track over 1800m in a 2YO maiden at Tokyo before winning an 1800m maiden on the sand at Nakayama.
He is the second Japanese import to win out of the Allendorf stable this month with his three year old Luen On Success breaking his maiden on August 3 over 1200m on the turf.
Ares Spear is another Japanese import from the Peter Leyshan stable that has caught the eye in his two runs in Macau.
The newcomer came within a half length of victory on debut when he just went down to Gunstigmaster over 1050 metres on the sand, and then turned in a superb run behind dead heaters To's Family and Pearl Lucky over 1200 metres in Sunday's Class 2.
Ares Spear was well back on the testing heavy track but powered home for fifth only beaten one and half lengths.
