3 minute read

The Macau meeting on August 6 belonged to popular owners Mok Shing Fung and Nelson Lee Koon Leong with their four runners winning two races and picking up two second place cheques.

Niubi Emperor, making his Macau debut, was the first of their winners when he lead throughout and showed plenty of fight to win the 25 to 45 rated event under the in-form Ryan Curatolo.

A son of Duke Of Marmalade, Niubi Emperor is a half brother to the owner’s handy Class 2 performer Tuhao Power who has won four races and placed eight times from his 32 starts.

The name Niubi is Mandarin for “awesome” and Niubi Emperor looked just that as he burst away from the gates to lead them comfortably.

The big gelding was taken on mid race by River Pearl (Martin Cangas), and the pair ended up in a David and Goliath battle over the last two hundred metres with the much bigger Niubi Emperor all 1255 pounds of him, reigning supreme over the smaller filly River Pearl who goes to scale at 980 pounds.

Jockey Ryan Curatolo was impressed by the bay geldings win and predicts a bright future for him.

“He’s big and he is very green still but he was really rolling on the front.”

“I really liked the way he fought on the last bit and he will keep improving and run further.”

Prehistoric Power gave the owner partnership their second win of the afternoon when he also led throughout under jockey Elvis Trujillo to easily win the Class 2 & 3 over 1500 metres.

It was win number two for the five year old son of Big Brown with two second placed efforts from his eight runs in Macau.

Ho Sai Lei under Elvis Trujillo went close in the first event the Class 5 & 6 over 1500 metres for Mok and Lee when he went a bit too freely early carving out faster sectionals then the Class 2 & 3 over the same trip.

The son of More Than Ready was run down late by the fast finishing Fortune Smiles (Akash Aucharuz), but will be winning at short notice for his owners.

One Belt One Road tried hard under Luis Corrales to give the combination another win in the Class 4 over 1500 metres but could not stave off the late dash of Prosperity Star (Horace Lam).

One Belt One gave the partnership their first winner in Macau back in October 2015. Then Tuhao Power followed in November 2015 with Chok King their next acquisition winning in early 2016.

Since entering into Macau racing Mok and Lee have purchased a total of eight horses with all of them bar Ho Sai Lei being winners with the latter being merely a formality.

Mok and Lee’s eight runners in Macau have won a total of 13 races and over $3.7 Million HKD in prize money to date.

The brilliant sprinter Mr Kaopu is the star of the partnership winning five and placing three times from eight starts and earning over $1.2 Million HKD.

The ill fated Chok King won four races and placed three times including a second in the Group 3 4YO Prelude before breaking down in the Derby.

Their latest find is the exciting four year old Kelson who posted an effortless nine lengths victory in early July over 1500 metres and looks a serious Derby contender for next year.

All of Mok and Lee’s horses are prepared by former two times Champion and current leading trainer K H Leong, with the exception of Kelson who is prepared by Victor Chan, and One Belt One Road who has recently been moved to last year’s Champion trainer Sio Cheong.

THREE nice Macau debutants filled the frame in Sunday’s final event the Class 3 over 1200 metres and each looks assured of a good future in the enclave.

Yang Jiang Hero showed brilliant speed away from the gates to lead from gate nine under Ruan Maia and then showed plenty of fight to hold off the late challenge of Devonport (Wayne Smith), with Happy Encore (Luis Corrales) running home well for third.

A son of the impeccably bred Duporth from the Grand Lodge mare As Simple as That, Yang Jiang Hero commenced his career under Gerald Ryan at Rosehill where he raced as Who Said It’s Easy.

As a yearling he was purchased for $175,000 at the 2015 Gold Coast Yearling Sales. The gelding won a Gosford maiden worth $22,000 and placed in Saturday company at Randwick in an $85,000 race.

In days gone by that would have easily have found him a berth in Hong Kong. However with the Hong Kong Jockey Club raising the bar for their Private Purchase Import Criteria in January 2016, Yang Jiang Hero found himself in Macau.

Like so many well performed horses that have good potential Yang Jiang Hero lacked that “magical” 70 rating required for Hong Kong. That allowed him to be purchased by his Macau owners for a fraction of the price he would have commanded under the old PP system in Hong Kong.

Second placed Devonport showed plenty of courage to chase hard from his outside draw of twelve, whilst the former Mick Price galloper Congressional racing under his Macau moniker of Happy Encore did a great job from the back with his fast finishing third.