Racing: Triumphant Return For Roger Yu

Roger Yu returns on Golden Pistols after winning the Group 3 Spring Trophy.

Former Hong Kong apprentice Roger Yu has capped off an amazing comeback weekend with a brilliant ride to win the Group 3 Spring Trophy over 1400 metres, at the Taipa racetrack on Saturday.
Yu returned to the saddle after a 10 year absence at Friday night’s sand meeting with four rides, and was quickly in the winners circle with a slick front running exhibition on Morning, in the last of the night the Class 6 over 1300 metres.
Prepared by the joint stable of Brian Kan and Tommy Tse, Morning was friendless in the betting jumping at odds of 20/1, but simply destroyed his opposition under Yu’s urgings to win by a gaping seven lengths.
Yu’s lengthy break away from racing didn’t deter the Kan-Tse yard from entrusting him with the mount on their classy galloper Golden Pistols in the Group 3 Spring Trophy, and the talented rider didn’t let them down with a copybook display from barrier 10.
Revved up out of the gates by Yu, Golden Pistols slotted across into fourth spot off the speed set up by Palace General and Viva Pronto. The son of Dehere (USA) improved to be just on the back of the leaders on the corner, before dashing to the front at the top of the straight.
Watching Yu aboard Golden Pistols over the final 200 metres, it was hard to imagine he’d had a day out of the saddle, as he gave polished performance of balance and power to hold off the late challenge by the race favorite Éclair Fantastic (Manoel Nunes), with Viva Pronto (Louis Corrales) two and a quarter lengths away in third.
Yu commenced his riding career under trainer Ricky Yiu in Hong Kong, and showed plenty of natural talent from day one kicking home 35 winners there.
A combination of immaturity and bad conduct away from the race track, led to his licence being cancelled, and it appeared that his riding career was over.
A short stint as a trackrider in Hong Kong around six years ago was as much that Yu had seen of a horse in the last decade.
When the opportunity arose to kick start his career in Macau, Yu grabbed it and according to trainer Tommy Tse is determined to make the most of his opportunity.
“He’s been really working hard on his fitness in trackwork and lots of jogging in the afternoon.” Tse said.
“This boy has got a lot of potential he’s a very good rider.”
“His problem in Hong Kong was just his bad behavior and immaturity. He was never involved in any bad things in racing like that.”
“He had six rides for the stable over the weekend and he followed our instructions perfectly on every one of them.”
Runner up Éclair Fantastic was stepping out for the first time for new trainer Joe Lau, and lost nothing in defeat according to jockey Manoel Nunes.
“We had a nice run in the race but he is still very immature this horse.”
“He was very nervous behind the gates sweating up and wanted to get his tongue over the bit.’
“He also raced a bit hard away from the gates, but take nothing away from the winner who is a class horse.”
Golden Pistols is an Australian import who raced there as Pistols, with the Listed Baillieu Handicap among his wins when trained by John Hawkes.

Double For Allendorf

Nunes later in the day produced a cool last to first ride aboard Best Fountain, to give trainer Geoff Allendorf the first leg of a winning double.
Best Fountain had not won since January of last year, but did look nicely placed in Class 3.
With the solid speed set up by Mega Form, Dr. Sweet and Flying Jaguar, Best Fountain was still last on straightening.
With Nunes weaving a path between runners, the son of Brahms (USA) sprouted wings over the final 150 metres, to make it win number seven in Macau and over $2 million in prizemoney for popular owner Winston Tse.
Callisto Kid also ridden by Nunes, opened his winning account with a solid win in the Class 4 over 1800 metres, to give Allendorf a winning double for the afternoon.
Callisto Kid is raced by the Macau Racing Club headed by Englishman James Carstairs and there was a large vocal group on hand to cheer the ‘Kid’ home.
The group now has three horses in training with the MJC.
King’s Cross also prepared by Geoff Allendorf was the Racing Club’s first runner, with the gelding already providing them with two victories, whilst The Gangster who resides in the Tim Pinfield yard, opened his winning account for the group back in October.

Monster Devours Them

One of the most popular wins over the weekend was the Y T Lam – Paul Cheng prepared Monster.
Ridden by Peter Ho, Monster was always traveling like a winner in the 1300 metre Class 2 & 3 contest, before bounding away in the straight to record a strong win.
As much as 30/1 was on offer five minutes before post time, but punters literally jumped out of trees to get on the gelding late, resulting in a closing price of 3/1.
Monster commenced his racing career under the care Bobby Pearse at Randwick, where he raced as Romany Star.

 Peter Ho and Monster make light work of their oppostion in the Class 2 & 3 on Friday night.

The son of Quest For Fame (GB) won two races from 12 starts there, and was only beaten 1.4 lengths by Fravashi in The Group 3 South Pacific Stakes at Randwick over 1400 metres.
The four year old won up to 1600 metres in Australia, and looks an ideal candidate for the four year old Classic’s such as the Guineas, Derby Trial and the Derby.

Macau Jockey Club