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A dominant win by Unselfish Trust in the IACM Lunar New Year Trophy on Taipa’s sand track has seen him emerge as a serious contender for next Saturday’s Macau Derby Trial.

Ridden by leading rider Ruan Maia, Unselfish Trust unleashed a powerful finishing burst over the final 200m to win easily from Delighted Solution (Andrew Calder), with race favorite Benevolent Friend (Manoel Nunes) running third.

Prepared by KC Chong, Unselfish Trust was bought by his owner Ngai Wai Bun with the Macau Derby in mind. His two wins from four starts in Macau have now firmly fixed his place as one of the Derby favorites.

Unselfish Trust is a former Victorian galloper that was known as Butch Kissidy and won two races over 1400m at Pakenham, one on the synthetic surface and the other a runaway four length win on the turf.

A solid effort followed when only beaten 2.6 lengths in Saturday company at Caulfield, before he failed on a heavy track at Flemington.

An impressive all the way win at his Macau debut back in October over Derby hopeful Contented N Happy gave all the indications the son of Wanted was headed for better things and he now looms as the biggest threat to Derby favorite Pearl Green in Saturday’s Derby trial over 1500m on the turf.

The KH Leong trained Pearl Green was the find of last season when the former unraced Gai Waterhouse galloper won five straight from 1350m on sand to 1800m on turf, and placed in four other races, having only been out of a place on only once.

The son of Fastnet Rock has been racing in the best company lately and is coming off a luckless third beaten one and half lengths by last year’s Derby winner Sacred Man in a Class 2 & 3 on February 3.

Another interesting contender in the Derby Trial is Autumn Cloud from the Sio Cheong yard.

He is also a former Victorian horse that raced as First Approach when prepared by Darren Weir. Following an easy win at Wangaratta the gelding later turned in a mighty run after overacing badly in the final of the Silverbowl at Flemington when third only beaten 1.9 lengths.

An easy winner on debut in Macau over 1350m, Autumn Cloud then went straight into the G2 Winter Trophy over 1800 metres.

As well as the task being too soon for him, the son of First Approach over-raced and faded badly in the straight.

An eye catching sixth from a mile back over 1200m behind Felizmaster shows he has hit his straps at the right time and he will be a serious contender in next Saturday’s race.

Last Saturday’s race day was the first for the Year Of The Dog and is traditionally one of the most popular race days on the MJC calendar. This year proved no exception with a big crowd in attendance and some great racing.

Brazilian Ruan Maia was the star of the sand program with a double. As well as Unselfish Trust in the feature, Maia was successful on Military Star in the Prosperity Handicap for Tony Fung.

Maia has a clear lead in the jockeys’ standings on 31 wins, 16 ahead of Peter Ho and Wayne Smith on 15, with Luis Corrales on 14.

The big finisher will be Manoel Nunes who has recently relocated from Singapore and has quickly ridden seven winners in just over one month.