3 minute read

Macau’s champion jockey Ruan Maia started the new season with a bang by kicking home three winners on Sunday’s first meeting of the 2018 -2019 racing year

Maia was a runaway winner of last season’s Jockey Championship with 60 victories, 21 ahead of his nearest rival Luis Corrales.

He picked up right where he left off in booting home favourite Thunder Bear in the first race, the Class 4 & 5 over 1500 metres.

Thunder Bear, a son of Smart Missile, has taken awhile to mature but had turned the corner recently with three placings from his last four runs.

The KH Leong-trained galloper will continue to pick up a cheque or two for his connections in the lower ranks.

Geoff Allendorf’s highly promising three year old [uen On Fortune was the second of Maia’s winners when he tracked the speed in the run before sprinting away for a big win in the 3 & 4 Year Old Handicap over 1200 metres.

Luen On Fortune, by the late Northern Meteor, had caught the eye on debut with a nice fourth on the all weather over 1050 metres in late August and had come on in leaps and bounds leading into Sundays race resulting in some solid support that seen the gelding jump at odds of 4/1.

Big Alloy was the third of Maia’s winners when he chalked up win number three in taking out the Class 3 & 4 over 1800 metres.

Prepared by Alan Tam, Big Alloy has always shown a touch of class but often has been the victim of his own demise with bad getaways and a total lack of early speed.

That’s why racegoers were left scratching their heads when the four year led them out of the straight the first time. In a race run at a farcical pace Big Alloy ended up in front until the 1200 metre point until Taolu Expert clapped some speed on.

Maia tracked the leader to the corner where he was one of a line four across the track, but once shaken up in the straight Big Alloy sprinted away for an easy win.

Big Alloy is a son of Foxwedge and has now put together an impressive record of three wins and seven placings from his 13 starts to date; and has all the right attributes to shape up as a Derby contender for next year.

Kevin Leung had a perfect start to his first day as a fully fledged rider with a win on the Tony Fung trained Lover Paradise in the Class 2 & 3 over 1200 metres.

The four year old showed plenty of grit after being obliged to race deep from his wide barrier 11 never better then three wide in the run.

Once in the straight the gelding dashed away with a winning break and had enough in hand to hold off the fast finishing favorite Northern Legend (Ruan Maia) to win by three quarters of a length, with Mission Gdragon (Horace Lam) not far away in third.

Kevin Leung is a much travelled young rider who commenced his apprenticeship in Hong Kong with his twin brother Derek in 2008.

From there he spent time riding successfully in Australia and New Zealand before moving to Macau in June 2016.

With 80 career winners to his credit Leung is still eligible to claim three pounds and looks poised to make his mark in Macau this season.