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Ho Ho Khan (122lb) advertised his potential for top-grade races next season with a fine victory in the G3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap (2400m) at Sha Tin this afternoon, Sunday 5 May.

Trainer David Hall suggested his charge would not press on to the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) at the end of this month, with the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races in December a probable long-range target for the improving four-year-old.
 

“I didn't discuss (the Champions & Chater Cup) with the owners but my intention would be to put him away now and hopefully he can mature a bit more and we might have a horse for December,” the handler said of the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) fifth.

“There’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge before that happens and we’ll see with his prep runs in October how he’s going and make a decision on what his future is. But he certainly looks like he’s good enough to be there and warrant a solid prep for December.”

Hall won the Queen Mother Memorial Cup previously with Bubble Chic in 2014 and this latest success was his first Group race win since Bundle Of Joy took the same year’s G3 National Day Cup.
 

Jockey Vincent Ho was aboard Bundle Of Joy that day four and half years ago and had Ho Ho Khan mid-pack on the rail in today’s nine-runner feature. The rider switched out at the top of the straight and wound up his mount to accelerate past front-runner Helene Leadingstar (121lb) 250m out. The New Zealand-bred colt stretched two and a half lengths clear of runner-up Savvy Six (113lb) on his first attempt at the distance.

“I knew he would handle the distance and as long as I balanced him up and had a nice, relaxed, smooth run he’d be a good chance. He did it very well,” Ho said.
 

But neither trainer nor jockey was advancing the notion that the compact son of Makfi is a mile and a half specialist in the making.

“He might just not be an out-and-out 2400-metre horse,” Hall said of the 2.8 favourite. “At the 2000 metres he was still a bit immature. He hasn’t even had a set of blinkers on yet so he still might be sharp enough for 2000.”

And Ho believes his mount could have won his previous race, a quality-packed 2000m Class 1, had he enjoyed a more convenient passage.

“Last time he was third behind Dark Dream and if I’d had a smother run I could have beaten him. At 2000 metres he can still win but it would depend on how the race pans out,” he said.

The in-form rider – leading homegrown jockey this term with 43 wins – believes Ho Ho Khan has enough about him to be competitive at the top.

“He definitely could be,” he added. “He has a good heart and a good temperament and he keeps improving.”

The going was good to yielding, with rain falling for most of the afternoon.

Shum’s Method is best

Winning Method (120lb) appeared to have a simple task in the opening Chairmen’s Day Plate and so it proved. The 1.1 favourite cruised to a three and a quarter-length win in the 1000m dash for Griffins.

Confidence in the Danny Shum-trained gelding was all down to the two-year-old’s debut run three weeks ago in the season’s first Griffin contest. The bay was beaten on that occasion but ran two lengths second to a potential star in Aethero, and was six and a quarter lengths clear of the remainder, three of whom re-opposed.

“Mr. Moore’s horse was not running, so according to the form, he beat the other horses six lengths – they could not beat him,” Shum said after his charge had clocked a solid 56.64 s eased down from runner-up Judy’s Star (120lb).

“The only one was number seven (Judy’s Star) because he trialled ok, so I was quite confident he could win, no worry.”

Shum, naturally, expects some improvement from the Australian-bred Holy Roman Emperor colt but an off-season surgery could be in order first.

“He’s still green but he’s a big horse. He could improve – he didn't improve a lot from his first run but he improved some. Maybe after the season I’ll geld him – he’s big,” the handler said.

Joao Moreira steered Winning Method through his make-all success and praised the youngster, whilst perhaps offering a further clue as to why Shum is considering castration.

“He’s maturing nicely, I took him to the gate during the week and he was a bit nasty in the gate but Danny gave him some more practice and that has done him a lot of good,” he said.

“He feels and seems like a very promising type of horse, he’s stylish and I think he’s going to go quite far up the ratings. He did everything straightforward today, he’s a quality horse.”

Shum claimed a brace when Young Legend took the Class 3 Wong Cup Handicap (1400m) under Zac Purton, who notched a treble on the card to take his season’s running tally to 113.

Sunny through the rain

Sunny Boy (133lb) delighted his connections when rallying for Purton to repel a late challenge from Ambitious Heart (122lb) in race three, the Class 3 Purves Quaich Handicap (1200m).

“To see him do that, go to the front, knuckle down and do that was really nice, especially when Zac (Purton) pulled the whip through to the right – it made the difference between winning and losing, in my opinion,” trainer John Moore said.

Sunny Boy ran fourth in G2 company at his third and final start in Australia pre-import but a series of injuries meant that he was sidelined for 26 months until a debut fifth behind Voyage Warrior at Sha Tin two weeks ago. The Matthew Wong-owned four-year-old prevailed at odds of 1.8.

“Being off the scene for so long and having so many soundness issues, and having such a patient owner – I said we’d give him one more chance but we introduced a new supplement and there have been no setbacks. To get the win today was great,” Moore added.

The handler nailed a treble when Chad Schofield drove Smart Rocket to success in the Class 4 Chan Trophy Handicap (1600m) and Purton delivered again for the stable on Grand Chancellor in the Class 3 Stevenson Cup Handicap (2000m).

Ricky Yiu has high hopes for his yard’s buzz horse Voyage Warrior and the trainer notched another first-up winner down the straight track when the three-year-old Allied Agility took the Class 4 Swaine Cup Handicap (1000m) under Martin Harley. The Irish rider’s Hong Kong tally now stands at four. 

Yiu struck a double when the four-year-old Bellagio opened his account under Umberto Rispoli in the Class 4 Li Cup Handicap (1400m).

Victor Wong arrowed the Tony Cruz-trained Multimillion to success down the 1000m straight in the Class 3 Arculli Trophy Handicap. Neil Callan, fresh from a Happy Valley double mid-week, landed the finale on Chairmen’s Day, the Class 4 Ip Jug Handicap (1200m) on the Tony Millard-trained Silver Fig.

Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Wednesday (8 May) night.