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Talented Macau galloper Obrigado Mais made it win number five on his preferred all weather surface when he unleashed a powerful finishing burst to sweep to victory at the Taipa night meeting on December 1.

Ridden by regular jockey Wayne Smith, The grey son of Husson took his overall sand record to four wins and one second from his seven starts on the sand, and close to $1.4 million in prize money since arriving in Macau.

The name Obrigado Mais is Portuguese for “thank you more” and owner Tam Vai Lam would be extremely delighted with the gelding’s efforts since arriving in the enclave.

Obrigado Mais was a serious Macau Derby contender after producing a huge run to win the International Mixed Doubles Challenge Plate over 1500 metres on the turf.

However he was robbed of all chance in the Derby when he was knocked out of contention with Joao Moreira in the saddle, after Chok King broke down and created chaos with a number of runners.

The five year old commenced his career with Robert Smerdon in Victoria, winning a maiden at Geelong on the synthetic track from only three runs in Australia.

The gelding was an instant success in Macau winning four races from his first five runs when prepared by Kim Cheong. He was stepping out on Friday night for the second time for new trainer Victor Chan Chun Fai.

Disappointment in the race was the favorite Invincible (Andrew Calder) who had the run of the race off the leader Emperor King but found little when called on.

Riding honors for the night went to Cliffy Lai who kicked home a double to bring him up to seven winners for the new season and put him in equal third spot on the rider’s standings.

Lai was seen to advantage on the KH Leong trained Beautiful Spring who ran out an easy winner in the Class 4 Over 1350 metres.

Beautiful Spring is an Australian import who was a $450,000 purchase at the 2015 Sydney Easter Sale by the Sun Bloodstock Group.

Prepared by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the son of Northern Meteor proved a disappointment placing only twice at Goulburn and Gosford before being gelded and sold to Macau.

Like most of the Northern Meteor breed we have seen in the enclave the gelding handles the sand well and Friday’s win will not be his last.

English import Diamond Kid was the second of Cliffy Lai’s winners when he appreciated the change in racing surface to score his maiden victory in the Class 2 & 3 over 1050 metres on the sandfor trainer Danny Wong.

Formerly trained in the UK by Robert Cowell at Newmarket, the son of Sakhee’s Secret had placed on three occasions on the all weather at Southwell and Wolverhampton.

However punters neglected the gelding on Friday night in light of two poor runs in Macau on the turf. The 4YO showed that the sand is his forte and will be winning plenty more over the sprint distances for his owner Liu Li.

Training honors for the night went to Danny Wong and the combined yard of Victor Chan and Kenny Seo.

Danny Wong landed a double with Eclair Infinity (Class 3 & 4) and Diamond Kid (Class 2 & 3) to take him to 10 wins giving him a two win lead over Tony Fung in the trainer’s standings.

Baby Horse’s victory in the last the Class 2 & 3 over 1050 metres made it a double for the Chan /Seo yard after Obrigado Mais winning earlier in the night.

Baby Horse rallied late under Horace Lam to win by a neck from Happy Vegetable (Wayne Smith), with Galaxy Giant (Ruan Maia) in third.

The win was well deserved for the New Zealand bred six year old who had been super consistent of late with three close placed efforts against the top bracket.