It  was a far cry from a Hong Kong Derby for Tommy Tse’s five year old Duke De Vega who showed plenty of courage to take out Friday nights Class 2 & 3 over 1350 metres at the Taipa racetrack.

The chestnut gelding under jockey Roger Yu showed the tenacity of a bulldog to fight on and win by a neck from the fast finishing Beautiful Spring (Andrew Calder), with Falcoshow (Peter Ho) a short head away in third.

Duke De Vega a son of dual Group 1 winner Lope De Vega (Ire) who has been described as Shamardal’s greatest son, picked up $168,150 HKD for Friday night’s win, poles apart from Ping Hai Star’s $10.2 million his owners pocketed some 48 hours later for Sundays Hong Kong Derby, which is arguably Hong Kong’s most sought after race.

By now you are asking yourself what is the connection to the pair, and for that we need to go back to a Maiden race at Doomben from September 2016.  A three year old son of Nom du Jeu with the fairly plain moniker of Ted was sent out favorite on debut for the 1350 metre event. After a hard fought battle over the last two hundred Ted was beaten a nose by Duke De Vega. Ted then went on to win his only other two Australian race starts in impressive fashion.

Duke De Vega took six months and four more runs to win another race at the Sunshine Coast.  Ted was sold to Hong Kong and Duke De Vega to Macau, at prices no doubt miles apart. It was shrewd buying given that Ted (Ping Hai Star) had already been purchased for Hong Kong some months prior to Duke de Vega being sold to Macau. 

Duke de Vega who arrived in Macau on a mark of 67 has now won two from his last three runs.  His 1500 metre turf win two back was super impressive and his win on Friday on the all weather surface shows his versatility.  Tommy Tse and owners the Golden Pistol’s Racing Syndicate can surely look forward to more winning photos in the coming months.

Eric Cheung is off to a flying start in Macau with another winner for his master Stanley Chin on Friday nights sand card.  Cheung gave a faultless display to win the Class 4 over 1350 metres on God Get People from Best Time (Luis Corrales), with Big Alloy (Horace Lam) in third.

God Get People has now won five races in Macau with four of those at the 1350 metres distance, with the son of Darci Brahma (NZ) getting close to the $1 million HKD mark in stakes money.

Cheung who rode 17 winners in a short time in Australia when apprenticed to Gordon Yorke, is still eligible for a seven pound claim in Macau. A natural lightweight who walks around at 110 pounds he will find himself in great demand from here on.

Most impressive winner on Friday night was the Alan Tam trained Acing Pro who bolted away with the Class 4 & 5 Handicap over 1510 metres under top jockey Ruan Maia.
Acing Pro took command of the race soon after the start and was rated to a nicety by Maia before kicking away in the straight for a big seven and a quarter lengths win over Epinart (Luis Corrales), with Ho Sai Lei (Roger Yu) back in third.

Acing Pro is the first progeny of the brilliant Helmet (Aus) to race in the enclave, from the USA bred dam Awesome I Am.  A $100,000 Aud purchase at the 2016 Gold Coast Horses In Training Sale,  Acing Pro has taken awhile to come to hand displaying plenty of greenness in his early runs, before a last stride Maiden win back in January.

Friday night’s win had a touch of class about it and Acing Pro looks to be on an upward spiral for his owner’s Hung Gee Hin Ammy and Wong Tak Kin.

Whilst still only half way through the season Ruan Maia is away with a big lead in the rider’s standings with 35 wins, 17 ahead of Wayne Smith who is on 18 with Peter Ho and Luis Corrales and Peter Ho vying for third spot with 17 winners each.

In the trainers race Danny Wong lead the way on 19 wins from Tony Fung on 15 with Stanley Chin in third on 13 victories.