Wednesday, 11 July 2012: Super sprinter Luck Of Smiling added the Macau Sprint Trophy to his outstanding record with a dominant win in the Group 3 event over 1200m at Taipa on July 7.
Prepared by Alan Tam, Luck Of Smiling took command of the race soon after the start and was let loose by jockey Manoel Nunes at the top of the straight to score the easiest win in the history of the race.
Luck Of Smiling was eased down to a walk by Nunes as they crossed the line but still had six and quarter lengths to spare over Absolutely Win (Stanley Chin), with Lucky Jai (David Badel) also trained by Alan Tam in third.
Luck Of Smiling has now won eight races from his 15 starts and placed a further six times, the only blot on his impressive record was at his last start when he did not appear to be himself, and after suffering some minor interference weakened under his 133 pounds to finish a distant ninth behind the very smart My Pony.
Luck Of Smiling was a $40,000 NZD purchase at the 2009 Karaka Festival Sale in New Zealand.
Originally bought by John Hawkes, Luck Of Smiling was secured for owner Mr. K M Ng by Patrick Lee who prepared the horse to win three races from his first six starts in Macau before being transferred to the Tam yard.
Alan Tam led in four winners over Friday and Saturday's two meetings to take him within five winners of Gary Moore on the premiership table.
Moore leads the trainer's standings on 62 victories with 11 meetings to the end of the season.
Tam's other winners on the weekend were the promising Hero Winner ridden by Wayne Smith on Friday night, World Monster again with Smith on top on the turf on Saturday, and the former David Hayes galloper Elderly Win (aka Rock 'N 'Rumble) under Andy Helfenbein.
Gary Moore's sole winner over the weekend was Good Lucky who arrived in the nick of time for Stanley Chin on Friday night.
With 11 meetings remaining the battle for training supremacy looks like going right down to the wire.
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