De Melo and Ferraris make waves in Hong Kong

SA jockeys Keagan de Melo and Luke Ferraris were off to a pleasing start in the new Hong Kong season at Happy Valley racecourse on Wednesday evening, riding three winners between them.

De Melo, in his first contractual stint on the island, won the first Happy Valley race of the season on Valhalla, trained by Casper Fownes. The reigning SA champion was given a feel of Valhalla last Saturday, finishing third in a race at Sha-Tin. He made the experience count four days later.

Turf Talk reported: “The race panned out better as De Melo was able to switch his mount inward and then had the rail without having expended much energy. He just had to switch his mount around the front two and Valhalla put in an impressive burst to win full of running by an easy 1.5 lengths.”

Ferraris opened his account for the season in his sixth ride of the term on Francis Lui’s Hameron and later made it a double riding Douglas Whyte’s eight-year-old outsider, Xponential, to victory.

The 21-year-old Ferraris is set for his best season in Hong Kong and looking to improve on last season’s 35 winners. He will have been glad to hear that his grandfather, Ormond Ferraris, has returned to Johannesburg after an extended sabbatical in the Eastern Cape.

The retired master trainer is back as a consultant to younger trainers at Turffontein, doing what he loves to do at the age of 91. Lyle Hewitson, another South African and fifth on the Hong Kong log with 50 winners last term, is yet to get off the mark, but his services are still in demand and it’s a question of time before he gets back to the winner’s enclosure.

Mike de Kock has entered no fewer than 14 runners for Saturday’s race meeting on the inside track at Turffontein and there will be punters feeling that this looks like a benefit day for the iconic trainer, who has cut his string down significantly in recent seasons.

De Kock said on Thursday that Woman Of Power (race 2 — 1,200m) was his best runner for the day, but also gave winning chances to Champagne Cocktail (race 3 — 1,700m), Mvelelo (race 4 — 1,700m), Sharapova (race 5 — 1,450m) and Trois Trois Quatre (race 8 — 2,000m).

Debutante Champagne Cocktail is an especially interesting runner. She is a full sister to 2022 Durban July winner Sparkling Water and De Kock said that she, too, was a filly with ability expected to be right up in the firing line on her first visit to the track.

Up-and-coming Trois Troix Quatre is one with Summer Cup potential and, thrown in the deep end, will have to show that he is capable of taking on the likes of Puerto Manzano and Flashy Apache. “There is only one way to know how good they are and that is to test them at a high level,” De Kock said.

Turffontein selections

1st race: (4) Barbaresco (2) Policy Of Truth (6) La Moohal (1) Halberdier

2nd race: (8) Woman Of Power (6) Happy Mo (7) One Religion (1) Whirlybird

3rd race: (6) Champagne Cocktail (1) Heart Peaks (2) Annewithane (7) Crystal Maiden

4th race: (8) Birthright (3) Mvelelo (1) Royal Edition (10) Sovereign’s Call

5th race: (4) Trentino (1) Cape Lights (5) Sharapova (9) Runaway Bomb

6th race: (5) Tale Of The Comet (1) Union Square (6) Hawkbill (9) Zinovi

7th race: (4) Tsar Bomba (5) Back In Business (2) Texas Red (1) Aussenkehr

8th race: (8) Trois Trois Quatre (1) Puerto Manzano (4) River Romeo (5) Flashy Apache

9th race: (2) American Star (1) Total Surrender (3) Hazlo Grande (7) Luthuli