New Zealand bred gelding Sacred Capital has stamped himself as a clear cut favorite for the Macau Derby with a resounding win in Sunday’s Group 2 Spring Trophy over 1500 metres at the Taipa racetrack.

Prepared by master conditioner Joe Lau and ridden by Peter Ho, Scared Capital showed a dazzling turn of foot from gate 11 to cross and lead the field as they raced into the back straight. With his high cruising speed the striking looking four year led them on the bridle and had the big field stretched out over a space of 15 lengths in the run. Once heads were turned for home Ho cut loose and the son of O’Reilly (NZ) dashed away from the only real chaser in last year’s Derby winner Pearl Green (Manoel Nunes), who pulled the margin back to a length and a half, with Luen On Dance Kid (Oscar Chavez) a distant third.

Sunday’s race was the four year olds third start in the enclave who had impressed all with his gritty first up win over 1200 metres on November 23rd; then followed another close second again over 1200 to the smart Lover Paradise after having to work hard from his outside draw. One look at Sacred Capital’s Australian race form and it was evident the gelding was crying out for further, and the step up to 1500 metres on Sunday was tailor made for him.

It was Joe Lau’s third triumph in the Spring Trophy having won the race initially in 2007 with Sea Of Jewels under Larry Cassidy, and then again with Kaaptan in the hands of Manoel Nunes in 2011. Lau was his usual reserved self after the win and described Sacred Capital as a nice horse, but wasn’t getting too carried away with his success as yet.

“That was a good win from the bad draw. He’s a really nice horse and a pleasure to train but still early days yet to the big day.” Lau said.

The big day Lau was referring to was of course the Macau Derby, a race that Lau has captured on two occasions; firstly with The Alfonso in 2015 under Nash Rawiller and then again in 2017 with Sacred Man for Zac Purton. Both horses were runaway winners in the Blue Riband event and like Sacred Capital they are all raced by Raffles Racing Supremo Dato KS Yap and Mr. Chen Ching Lung.

Sacred Hustler is a beautiful type and was originally purchased by Ciaron Maher Racing for $580,000 NZD at the 2016 Karaka Ready To Run Sale.

“Bruce Sherwin from Raffles picked the horse out as a two year old and was going to buy him on behalf of Raffles, but he went for too much money. Raffles then purchased a small share in the colt that raced in Victoria as Rellson.”

“After he won his maiden easy at Wangaratta they threw him in the deep end there and he ran well in races like the Carbine Club at Flemington and the Autumn Classic at Caulfield. When he didn’t quite measure up Raffles bought the horse outright for Macau with the Derby in mind. Not sure what they paid for him, but I think he will prove to be a good buy for Macau.” Joe Lau added.

Lau now has the option of tackling the Group 2 Directors Cup over 1500 metres on April 13 or the Macau Derby Trial (Group 3) one week later. The Group 1 Macau Guineas (1500) follows on May 25 and then it’s onto the Derby over 1800 metres on July 27th.

From a Derby view point Luen On Dance Kid produced another tip top effort for third after striking some trouble early; but when one looks at our present crop of four year olds overall, Sacred Capital does appear to be head and shoulders above them.

Exciting three year old Thehorseiswithme continued on his winning way when he destroyed a good Class 2 field to make it five straight wins under regular jockey Luis Corrales.

Thehorseiswithme continues to rise to occasion as he goes up in grade and in Sunday’s victory the Alan Tam galloper produced a personal best of 1.08.5 in the 1200 metre event.

The 3YO Classics appear to be at his mercy and a race like the Group 1 Chairman’s Challenge Cup over 1200 metres on Macau – Hong Kong Trophy day, would certainly be well within his grasp.

The win by Thehorseiswithme was Alan Tams third winner over the weekend having picked up a double on Friday nights sand card with the flying Fasuba (Ruan Maia), in the Class 1 & 2 over 1050 metres; and the very promising UK import Ojala under Manoel Nunes.