3 minute read

A flying late charge by Rose Gold Alloy gave Macau trainer Victor Chan back to back wins in the G2 Winter Trophies at Taipa, taking his tally to six Group races overal

Victor Chan has a combined stable with Korean trainer Kenny Seo and won the race last year Obrigado Mais under Irishman Wayne Smith.

He was represented this year with both Rose Gold Alloy (Oscar Chavez) and Lucky Winston who was ridden by South African Martin Wepner.

Rose Gold Alloy overcame a difficult draw from the 1800 metres start to be put into a great spot one off the rail on the back of race favorite Pearl Green (Ruan Maia).

With the tearaway leader Sacred Man (Benny Woodworth) stretching the field out over a span of close to 20 lengths in the back, Rose Gold Alloy followed Pearl Green from the 800m to get a great cart into the race.

Pearl Green sprinted well in the straight and pinched a nice three length margin however was no match for the powerful late surge of Rose Gold Alloy under the strong riding of Chavez.

Rose Gold Alloy scored by three quarters of length on the line from Pearl Green, with Big Alloy (Luis Corrales) turning in a great performance from a Macau Derby viewpoint coming from near the tail of the filed to run third.

Lucky Winston ran a creditable seventh beaten seven lengths after coming from the tail of the field.

Rose Gold Alloy is raced is partnership by Au Yeung Kai Chor and Lee Yuen Fat. The five year old is an English bred son of Dutch Art and commenced his racing career as Chinese Art in France, running a second at Chantilly and unplacedat Maisons –Lafitte.

The gelding arrived in Macau last season with the Derby his main mission, and in a rushed preparation did a fine job under Hong Kong jockey Matthew Chadwick to run third to Pearl Green and Royal Garden.

A determined second to River Control in the G1 Macau Gold Cup over 1800 metres followed and a strong win in Class 2 in November suggested the gelding had come back even better as a five year old.

Rose Gold Alloy’s Macau record now reads 13 starts for three wins and four placed efforts and almost $1.3 million HKD in prize money.

Golden Fans from the Tommy Tse and Louis Ho combined stable scored a nice win per medium of a superb ride by Irish jockey Wayne Smith in the Class 2 & 3 over 1500 metres, that suggested more to come from the grey son of Dalghar.

The five year old has been a much traveled galloper initially commencing his career under Anthony Cummings in Sydney racing as Golden Organic winning a 1500 metre 2YO Handicap at Rosehill back in 2016.

It was lean pickings after that with the gelding going first to Mark Newnham, then to Matthew Vella and then onto Andrew Williamson at the Sunshine Coast; picking up a few placings along the way.

Saturday's win suggests that as a five year old he has certainly strengthened up and after a lovely run in transit sixth the rail, the grey showed a slick turn of foot to burst through late and win by a neck from Oh So Easy (Breinell Yamzon), with One More Again (Frankie Choi) in third.

The win by Golden Fans was the first leg of a double for Wayne Smith and the Tse / Ho combined stable with Cheerful Fish leading throughout in the next race the Class 4 & 5 over 1200 metres.

Cheerful Fish easily accounted for the bolter Game Of Dreams (Frankie Choi), Moon Walker (Ruan Maia) doing a fine job off a wide run in transit to hold on for third.

Beautiful Creative broke through for a well deserved win under South African jockey Martin Wepner to win the last of the day the Class 3 & 4 over 1200 metres.

In a lovely patient ride by Wepner, Beautiful Creative got all the favors back on the rail until heads were turned for home, before easing over heels to come charging over the top of them all late.

Garlic And Spicy (Ruan Maia) did a nice job off a tough run wide in the run, with the surprise effort by Collateral Mission (Wayne Smith) to run in third at a big double figure quote.

Beautiful Creative, a son of Star Witness, has been a model of consistency late and the addition of the blinkers first time and a sweet ride proved the catalyst for victory.