FRANKIE LOR KEEPS HIS STABLE MOMENTUM GOING WITH A TREBLE ON FWD CHAMPIONS DAY

By Darren Winningham | Monday, April 29, 2019

Yet again second year trainer Frankie Lor has showcased his ability to train winners in Hong Kong with a winning treble at Sha Tin on FWD Champion’s Day.

Despite not winning a feature race on the program he was able to win with Everyone’s Joy (Race 3 – ridden by Zac Purton) and he then landed a race to race double in races 9 and 10 on the program with Solar Wai Wai and Flying Thunder respectively. They were ridden by Italian Umberto Rispoli and South African Grant Van Niekerk.

Out of all the winners on Champions Day, Lor felt that he may have unearthed another potential star in European import Flying Thunder after he made a sustained wide run to win the Class Two FWD Insurance Elite Handicap (1,200m).

After back-to-back seconds in Class Three, Flying Thunder produced his best in his first go in Class Two carrying just 114 pounds under jockey Grant van Niekerk.

“He is always close. He had two seconds and he had to carry the big weight in his last one, that’s why we went up to Class Two with the light weight, which was much better for him,” Lor said after the race.

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Lor was also impressed with Glorious Forever on Sunday, who hung on to run fourth in the Group One QE II Cup (2,000m).

“I can’t believe the time in the QEII. It was very fast. Glorious Forever ran very well. I think because there was heavy rain here last night and then this morning, they didn’t water the track, it was very fast,” he said after the race.

Lor said Mr Stunning, who was scratched from the Chairman’s Sprint Prize with a foot issue, would be put away for the rest of the season to prime him for his LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint defence in December.

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Frankie Lor's first major winner was in a Group One race with Mr Stunning in the 2018 The LINGINES Hong Kong Sprint in December 2018.

He then sent out Simply Brilliant, who was superbly ridden by Frenchman Alexis Badel, to win the January Cup (Group 3) before added further success to his name when taking out the BMW Hong Kong Derby (HK $18 million) in March with Furore, who won under the guidance of Australian Hugh Bowman.

Last season the Frankie Lor stable trained 65 winners and so far, this season has produced the winners of 53 races. It is starting to look like Lor, at the age of 53, may well be the new “Law” in Hong Kong Racing in the new 2019/20 season!

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Meanwhile the Hong Kong Jockey Club released the official figures for the Inaugural FWD Champion’s Day with 44,564 patrons in attendance and massive betting turnover of HK $1.449 million on the ten-race program.

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