John Egan returned from a three-meeting suspension at Happy Valley yesterday and immediately got back to winning ways with a storming victory on Triple Expresso.
The irrepressible Irishman scored his 16th win of the season with a tremendous hold-up ride on the John Moore-trained gelding in the last race on the card, the Class One So Kon Po Handicap. He burst down the outside in the straight to defeat favourite Red Zone by 2.5 lengths, with Super Century another 1.25 lengths back in third.
Egan, who had a total of four rides yesterday, was delighted to bounce back so quickly from his ban for careless riding incurred at Sha Tin late last month. 'I didn't have too many rides today because it's always hard to get the mounts when you've been off for a while. But that was exactly what I needed to kick-start the season again for me,' he said.
Egan's ride was exceptional from barrier 11 on a day when a low draw and a handy position from the off were generally required for victory. He was last in the early stages of the 1,200-metre race as Kowloon Pride and Spring Miles cut out a fast pace, and he was still among the back-markers turning for home.
But the front-runners had nothing left in the straight, and Egan's patience paid off as Triple Expresso powered to the line once the jockey pressed the button. Red Zone and Super Century, who had also been out the back for most of the way, both ran on well but Egan's run was unstoppable.
Moore was full of praise for the jockey after he had secured Triple Expresso's first victory from five starts this season. 'I told John the horse was really well, probably better than he's been all season. We wanted to draw a good barrier, but when we got 11 there was nothing he could do but take him back and across and ride him for luck,' the trainer said.
'The only strict instruction I gave John was not to be tempted to swing ride coming into the straight, but to sit and wait for the gaps to appear. Fortunately, everything came together and John did it perfectly.'
Egan added: 'It's hard to sit there, but this horse clearly loves being ridden with a lot of cover, and when I asked him to go he just went ping.'
In contrast, Felix Coetzee rode a perfect stalking race on Spectacular Talk in the opener, eventually running out a comfortable 5.25-length winner on the Ricky Yiu Poon-fie-trained four-year-old.
Coetzee had his mount perfectly placed in third down the back straight in the 1,650-metre race behind Manley's Fortune and Typhoon. When Manley's Fortune began to fade round the home turn, Coetzee kicked on with Spectacular Talk and quickly opened a three-length lead that never looked likely to be pegged back.
The margin actually widened by the line to 5.25 lengths, with Superior Title finishing best of the rest to take second, a neck ahead of Typhoon, who stayed on again in the closing stages.
Similar tactics paid dividends for Eric Saint-Martin in race four, also over 1,650 metres, as he stuck to the rail on Midas King behind the pace-setter Sir Galway.
Saint-Martin took the lead off the bend as his mount railed better than Sir Galway, and Midas King stuck on well to hold off the determined challenge of Air Force One by three-quarters of a length.
The winner and runner-up came from barriers two and one respectively, emphasising the importance of a good draw over this trip.
