HK JAN 1 - HELENE SPIRIT UPSTAGES REAL SPECIALIST

By Hong Kong Jockey Club | Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Helene Spirit (121lbs) notched a well-deserved breakthrough Group race win with victory in Hong Kong’s first Pattern race of 2013, the HKG3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup (Handicap) on Tuesday, 1 January.

The Caspar Fownes-trained six-year-old took the 1400m contest by a length from favourite Real Specialist (130lbs), and in so doing brought up a treble on the day for his in-form rider, Zac Purton. Helene Spirit is likely to make a swift reappearance over 1800m at Happy Valley on Wednesday, 9 January.

“He’ll run next Wednesday at Happy Valley in the January Cup (HKG3),” revealed Fownes. “Zac said he was having a hard time pulling him up, so he had some left in the tank there. He could be one of those Hong Kong horses that reach a point where they just start to improve and on they go.”

After breaking smartly from Gate 2 in the New Year’s Day feature, Purton positioned his mount handily on the rail; switched out in the straight; and pounced with 200m remaining. Helene Spirit closed out tidily to stop the clock at 1m 21.98s as he held the John Size-trained pair of Real Specialist and last year’s HKG1 Hong Kong Derby hero, the third-placed Fay Fay (123lbs).

“On the ratings with the favourite, we were better off this time, and the draw really helped us,” continued Fownes of his charge, who had been knocking on the door in high-class company this term. “He hadn’t been drawing well and he’d been racing really well so he had to get his chance. The horse is in good form and keeps improving – he’s smart and we’ve got quite a handy horse here.”

Purton is riding the crest of a lucrative wave at present with a return of seven wins from the past two Hong Kong race meetings. With successes on the card atop the Dennis Yip-trained duo of Travel Brand and Why Not, the Australian ended the day sitting two clear of 12-time champion Douglas Whyte at the head of the jockeys’ premiership.

Whyte had pulled one back on Purton in the last race of the day, the 1600m Tai Mo Shan Handicap, on the promising four-year-old Gold-Fun, who was the final leg of a double for trainer Richard Gibson. Gold-Fun was scoring for the second time from only three Hong Kong starts

Attendance for the New Year’s Day meeting at Hong Kong’s racecourses was a bumper 60,393, the highest since 1999, while turnover for the 11-race card was the highest since 1998 at HK$1,329 million.

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