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Wayne Smith A Big Hit In Macau

3 minute read

Visiting Irish jockey Wayne Smith took riding honours in Macau over the weekend, kicking home a treble of winners over the two days.

Wayne Smith
Wayne Smith Picture: Macau Jockey Club

Shame On You from the Victor Chan yard was the start of Smith’s weekend when he simply out toughed his opponents to win the Class 4 & 5 over 1350 metres at Taipa on Friday night.

Smith saved plenty of ground via the rails to slip through on the inside to join a line of three leaders at the top of the straight, with a good four way battle staged before Shame On You got the upper hand late.

The very promising More Than Happy from the Kim Cheong stable was the second of Wayne Smith’s winners when he ran away from his rivals to easily win the Class 2 & 3 over 1500 metres.

More Than Happy is the first of the Irish Derby winner Grey Swallow’s progeny to race in Macau and Friday night made it win number four in the enclave.

The four year old grey gelding has shown a real liking for the all weather surface with three of his victories being on the track.

Lucky Winston also from the Kim Cheong stable rounded out the weekend for Smith with a good strong win in the Class 2 over 1500 metres on the turf on Saturday.

The win by Lucky Winston also gave Kim Cheong a treble for the weekend with Rider Navigator getting home for him in the Class 4 over 1000 metres to give the Testa Rossa gelding win number three in Macau, all on wet tracks.

Wayne Smith who was the leading rider in Dubai in 2011 has been based in UAE for over a decade.

He once enjoyed another stellar season in the Emirates winning three G1 contests including the Qatar Derby for Mick De Kock and a G3 race as well.

A much travelled horseman, Smith has also ridden with success in Hong Kong, Germany, Bahrain and Qatar. He has been regularly spending the off season in Macau where his services are always in great demand.

• FOLLOWING race four on Saturday the Taipa track was hit by a deluge that dropped 35 millimeters of rain in 20 minutes on the track.

This resulted in the remainder of the meeting being abandoned due to large amounts of surface water on the course proper.

• TRAINER Danny Wong has a real smart one in the Australian import Innoalloy who made it two wins on the trot with a late lunge to win the Class 2 over 1050 metres on Friday night.

Innnoalloy ridden by Horace Lam stretched late to down Bingo Champion (Andrew Calder) but not before almost throwing the race away by veering out sharply in the last 50 metres.

The win was a carbon copy of the geldings win on the turf on April 30 when he made a beeline late for the outside fence, but still managed to get up in the last stride to beat Victory Megastar.

Innoalloy is a son of Choisir who started his racing career with James Cummings at Randwick under the name of Il Maestro when raced by the Gooree Stud group.

His only win in Australia was a Wyong maiden under James McDonald where he did his best on that occasion to throw the race away by veering to the outside fence.

His run time of 1.01.9 speaks volumes of his ability given the manner of his win, and if Danny Wong can get him to mend his ways he has a serious racehorse on his hands.

The victory by Innoalloy edged Danny Wong to within one win of premiership leader Sio Cheong who went without a winner over the weekend.

Cheong is on 28 wins to Wong’s 27 with former champion trainer’s Kim Cheong and K H Leong together in equal third spot with 21 wins.

In the riders standings Panamanian jockey Luis Corrales has a five win lead on 43 victories as he attempts to stave off a late bid by Brazil’s Leo Salles on 38 wins with Peter Ho in third spot on 35.


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