Faaltless ride on The Poon Train

The sparingly-raced FAALTLESS made a magnificent comeback yesterday by capturing the $200,000 Garden City Trophy, thanks to a wonderful ride by sensational Hong Kong apprentice Matthew Poon.

It was the second time the MA Stable-owned Faaltless won the 1,200m Group 3 race, having been successful in 2014 when ridden by jockey Danny Beasley.

The "old man", one of two seven-year-olds in the field of nine yesterday, returned after a six-and-a-half month spell and it was only his 23rd start in four years of campaigning.

One with a history of chipped fetlocks, it was certainly the right decision to press ahead with the Australian-bred, whose last win was on Nov 6, 2014 and had gone through a losing sequence of 12 runs.

While trainer Shane Baertschiger must be praised for bringing the horse back to not only win but also at this high level, Poon also deserves bouquets for riding the horse a treat.

Nicknamed "The Poon Train" during his time in Brisbane, Australia, where he rode 73 winners, Poon used his initiative to lead and then kept his mount on an even keel all the way to the winning post.

Faaltless led past the 800m mark by just over a length from Wimbledon, Super Winner and Raise No Doubt wide.

Then came Poseidon, Dragon Fury, Distinctive Darci, Aramco and Affleck.

Faaltless led nicely into the straight. Wimbledon got up to about half a length in the final 300m, but the $18 favourite found that getting near was one thing, getting past was another.

Poon got Faaltless kicking again to beat Wimbledon by one-and-a-quarter lengths in a fast time of 1min 08.90sec on the long course.

The winning time was just 0.75sec outside Spalato's record set in 2014.

Faaltless' more fancied stablemate Aramco, who was the $21 second favourite, finished well for third, a length away.

Receiving only lukewarm support, Faaltless paid $58 for a win.

Baertschiger paid huge tribute to Faaltless after the race.

"I'm very proud of the horse. He had a chip taken out of one fetlock. He came back good, had four starts and chipped his other fetlock," said the lanky Australian affectionately known as "Stretch" at Kranji.

"We were wondering whether to go on with it or not and the owners then decided to. We gave the horse three months off, took our time with him and had him on a diet because I know it's his first-up in a race.

"He was back to his winning weight and, yeah, the horse is a great horse.

"If he didn't have problems, he would have beaten Emperor Max in his top form, and it's good to see him come back."

Baertschiger then heaped accolades on Poon.

"It's a great ride by Matthew Poon. I thought Wimbledon would lead. I thought we would be second but that's what good jockeys do. They use their own initiative. They just go to the front and don't go too hard, and Poon rode him a treat."

"When I saw him ride his first winner on Friday, he looked enormous and I think he will have a full book of rides next week already."

On Aramco, Baertschiger said: "He ran a really nice race. He was sticky in barrier 1 and he had to get back a bit but, you know, he only had a rating of 77, so he ran out of his skin."

Poon, who is here on a two-week stint to stay fit before the new Hong Kong season resumes on Sept 3, had earlier in Race 1 won on HONOR and has certainly proven very popular with the Kranji crowd who cheered him as he brought Faaltless back to the winner's enclosure.

"Yeah, it was great. Earlier this afternoon, it was good to ride a winner for my fans," said Poon.

"Unfortunately, for my manager in Australia, his mum passed away yesterday, so it was good to ride a winner for them."

Turning to Faaltless, he said: "Yeah, the old man travelled very well.

"I think there was no tight pressure outside him and he took up an easy lead.

"He had a very strong kick and he finished very well.

"Yeah, it's my first Group 3, and overseas as well."