Tsuen Wan Glory’s Class Five Hung Shui Kiu Handicap (1,400m) victory won’t be remembered by many, but jockey Matthew Chadwick hopes he can look back and identify the battling six-year-old’s success as the point where his season took a turn for the better.

Chadwick knows the ups and downs of life as a jockey in Hong Kong well. He burst onto the scene as an apprentice, was winning Group Ones with California Memory in his early 20s, endured a number of tough seasons where injury curtailed his output and then entered this season on the back of win tallies of 55 and 43.

But the 2021-22 Tony Cruz Award winner has found life tough again in the past couple of months, with his victory aboard Tsuen Wan Glory his first in 62 rides.

“It’s just been frustrating. There’s been too many seconds, too many placings. It’s hard to stay on those horses so it’s nice to finally ride another winner,” Chadwick said.

“A lot of them have just been unlucky. They’ve had circumstances go against them, some haven’t drawn well and some have just found one better.”

While Tsuen Wan Glory’s win was only Chadwick’s second since November 8, he’s ridden a remarkable 24 placings in that time.

“They’ve just kept running well without winning. It’s just the roundabout we sit on here in Hong Kong, you just get taken off them sometimes and unfortunately that’s happened to me a bit too much. Hopefully I can build that support now,” said Chadwick after taking his tally to nine for the season.

Lui-Ho combo Second To None

One combination that isn’t struggling for success is that of Vincent Ho Chak-yiu and Francis Lui Kin-wai, with the duo combining for their second double of 2024 at Sha Tin on Saturday.

After Second To None broke his maiden at start two in the second section of the Class Four Lam Tei Handicap (1,200m), Holy Lake posted his third win of the season in the Class Four Ping Shan Handicap (1,600m) to take the Lui-Ho double act to nine wins from 48 attempts this campaign.

Second To None was one of a number of lightly raced gallopers to make an impact on the first half of Saturday’s card, extending nicely from midfield to beat favourite Top Scorer by a length in the afternoon’s second event.

“He’s a nice horse. His mind is still green, but his fitness is OK. He stuck on well. If you look at him, he’s got a big stride,” Lui said of his $8.8 chance. “I think we’ll keep to the same distance and I’ll let him tell me what to do.”

Dennis Yip Chor-hong’s three-year-old Run Run Timing opened his account at start three in the next race, leading pretty much throughout to win the first section of the Lam Tei Handicap as favourite, while Volcanic Spark followed suit for Ricky Yiu Poon-fai soon after in the Class Four Nam Sang Wai Handicap (1,400m).

“He’s four, but he’s only lightly raced and still a bit immature. We had a senior jockey on him. Hugh [Bowman] is one of the best jockeys in Hong Kong,” Yiu said after Volcanic Spark wove through traffic to grab Master Tornado on the line.

“Last time over the same trip he was a bit unlucky, but he is a horse who’s improving. Over 1,400m and up to a mile he’ll keep improving.

“They went slow. For a second I thought he’d be caught in traffic, especially on the C+3 course. I said that to Hugh when we won and he said ‘these things you leave to me’,” Yiu added with a laugh.

Injury, scratchings mar Sha Tin dash

A barrier attendant was taken to hospital for scans on his injured ankle and two horses were scratched after a chaotic prelude to Saturday’s Class Four Lau Fau Shan Handicap (1,000m).

After Caspar Fownes-trained debutant Deep Pursuit and David Hayes’ veteran speedster Metro Warrior got worked up in the barriers, one attendant got caught up in the fracas and both gallopers were removed from the contest.

“After being loaded into the starting gates, [Deep Pursuit] became fractious, reared and became cast for a considerable period,” reads the stewards’ report.

“After being loaded into the starting gates [Metro Warrior] became fractious, reared and struck its head on the barrier partition.”

Once the race got under way six minutes after start time and with only 12 runners, the heavily backed Super Commander swiftly took control of proceedings and dictated throughout to see off second starter Lifeline Express by a length, with red-hot favourite James Tak close behind in third.