By Andrew Hawkins in Dubai
For trainers Chris So and Caspar Fownes, victories at Sha Tin on Wednesday night (1 March) were celebrated fleetingly. Within two hours of the card’s conclusion, both were 40,000 feet airborne, destination Dubai, where both will saddle runners at Meydan’s Super Saturday meeting.
While Fownes-trained Dundonnell and So’s Fabulous One contest different races on Saturday night (4 March), having both contested a 1200m dirt handicap to begin their Dubai campaigns on 11 February, it is a case of master and apprentice tackling the global stage together.
Fownes, a fixture among Hong Kong’s leading handlers, has become a frequent Dubai visitor, with G3 Mahab Al Shimaal (1200m) entrant Dundonnell being the trainer’s fifth Meydan runner in six years. Green Birdie, Lucky Nine, Gun Pit and Domineer all went before, but of those, only recently-retired Gun Pit raced on Super Saturday – he finished second in last year’s G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 (2000m) behind Special Fighter.
For So, Fownes’ long-term assistant who has only held a trainer’s position of his own at Sha Tin since mid-2013, Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (1200m) runner Fabulous One represents a new frontier – the five-year-old is the first galloper the horseman has travelled abroad. It is the culmination of a long-held dream for the 49-year-old Hong Kong native that began halfway around the world, in the mire of an Ontario winter.
“Everything for me started in Canada,” So said at Meydan on Thursday morning (2 March). “I started at Woodbine in the mid-1990s with a trainer named Tino Attard, walking and then riding horses, and I travelled around Ontario often. He had sent some horses around the world, he brought a horse to Hong Kong before I joined him (Cozzene’s Prince, who finished eighth to Romanee Conti in the April 1993 edition of the Hong Kong International Cup).
“So that became my dream, to travel horses around the world. At that time, I didn’t know if I would get a training licence in Canada, the United States or in Hong Kong; actually, I didn’t think much about getting to Hong Kong, I didn’t think it would happen. But in 1997, I returned to work for the Hong Kong Jockey Club as an exercise rider and it all happened from there.”
So began working as a trackwork rider under Tony Cruz at first, partnering many of Hong Kong’s best gallopers of the early 2000s, before he joined Fownes in 2003.
“I worked for Tony from 1997 until 2003, and rode a lot of his superstars,” he said. “Silent Witness I rode, Lucky Owners I rode, Bullish Luck too. They were something. And then I was lucky enough to get a promotion to Assistant Trainer when Caspar took over from his dad in 2003.”
The pair became a formidable team over the course of a decade, Fownes winning two premierships in that time (in 2006/07 and 2008/09) and preparing horses like Hong Kong Mile winner The Duke, Hong Kong Derby victor Super Satin and champion sprinter Lucky Nine. Trips to Japan and Singapore became frequent and So learnt valuable lessons for shipping horses to the world’s big races, hoping to one day apply them himself if he ever was offered a licence of his own.
“The first horse I travelled was when I was with Tony in 2002,” So said. “The horse was called Red Sun, he went to the (JPNG1) Japan Cup Dirt (1800m) and finished well back. I think he was Tony’s first horse to travel too! After that, I went many times with Caspar. Before I was promoted, the last one was Helene Spirit, he also went to Japan for the mile race (G1 Yasuda Kinen) in 2013 but was beaten a long way behind a champion, Lord Kanaloa.
“I had never been to Dubai until three weeks ago, though. I went to Japan with a few horses like Green Birdie and Lucky Nine, I went to Singapore too, but I didn’t travel with Caspar’s horses to Dubai. So this is now my second time here, hopefully it can be a third time in three weeks!”
The dream of winning a big race outside Hong Kong was further inspired by another horse synonymous with Dubai, Rich Tapestry, and his daring trainer Michael Chang. Rich Tapestry won two of his six starts at Meydan, taking the 2014 Mahab Al Shimaal and the 2016 G3 Al Shindagha Sprint (1200m) while also placing in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m) at the World Cup meeting in both 2014 and 2015, but it was the Holy Roman Emperor gelding’s 2014 G1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (1200m) victory that fuelled So’s desire for big-race glory abroad.
“I saw Michael take his horse everywhere,” said So. “Michael did so well with Rich Tapestry, but it was his trip to the United States that really meant a lot. I know the North American style well because I started out there, so when he went to California and won a Group 1, Michael became my idol, because no Chinese trainer had ever won a big race in the States. So I told myself, I really hope that I can take a horse overseas – well, any different place that’s not Hong Kong or Macau.”
Since So stepped out in his own right at the start of the 2013/14 season, he has prepared 137 Hong Kong winners. He is currently sitting sixth in the 2016/17 trainers’ championship with 32 wins. However, he says that his season could be made if Fabulous One acquits himself well over the straight 1200m on Saturday night.
“It has all happened fairly quickly,” he said. “Actually, I’ve been very lucky in my career. My first season, I had a runner in the international races (Time After Time finished eighth in the 2013 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint), my second year I had the favourite in the Derby (Redkirk Warrior) and now in my fourth year I’ve got a horse running on Super Saturday.
“However, it made sense to take him out of Hong Kong. On ratings, honestly, he can’t beat horses like Lucky Bubbles, Amazing Kids, Peniaphobia, Aerovelocity, and there weren’t many races that would be suitable. He looked like he handled the dirt in his trackwork and so we planned to try him in January when he returned, and he ran really well. That last run convinced us he handled it, so we thought it was worth a try bringing him here.”
Fabulous One finished ninth at his first Dubai start, beaten almost 14 lengths behind Godolphin galloper Comicas in a 1200m dirt handicap. Dundonnell finished second in the same race. It forced So back to the drawing board, although he admits relief that there was another option for the Elusive City gelding by heading back to the turf.
“The problem is, he didn’t really handle the turn, going left-handed,” the trainer said. “Oisin Murphy reported that he was really happy with the horse going into the run, he looked good but the whole experience was something different, he was more excitable than he is in Hong Kong. At least we know now that the dirt here is out of the question, maybe because of the turn, but at least there’s the option of the straight 1200m so it’s not a wasted trip. We’ll see how he goes over the straight. I hope he can run well, I hope he can run close, maybe in the top five. I hope he does Hong Kong proud and doesn’t finish last, though!”
A field of 16 is set to contest the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint (1200m), with Fabulous One drawn in gate five under Murphy. The race is scheduled for 10:20pm Hong Kong time, the fourth of six Meydan races to be simulcast for betting into Hong Kong on Saturday night.
|
Photo 1:
Chris So (right) spent 10 years as assistant to three-time Hong Kong Champion Trainer Caspar Fownes (left).
|
