Simply Brilliant Lor
Double takes new trainer past his master John Size's first-season record
The Lung Mun Road Handicap at Sha Tin on Saturday was not just a clash between two jockeys at the peak of their powers, Joao Moreira and Zac Purton, but it was also a battle between master and apprenticefor trainers John Size and Frankie Lor.
Size, who is set to be crowned Hong Kong's champion trainer for a record 10th time at the conclusion of the season, saddled up Hezthewonforus, but he could not topple his former assistant Lor, who scored the first leg of a race-to-race double with Frankel gelding Simply Brilliant.
It was only fitting, then, that Simply Brilliant's win saw Lor equal Size's record of 58 wins for a freshman trainer. By the end of the meeting, Lor stood alone at the peak of the summit with 59 wins with Glorious Forever - and seemingly more to come by season's end.
Purton, as he returned to the weighing room with Lor, quipped: "This man, right here, is the new John Size."
But Lor, humble as ever, said that the goalposts had changed since Size's debut season in 2001/02 - in which the Australian handler's 58 wins clinched him the championship - and that his own achievement could only be measured in context.
"I am very proud of reaching this number, but it is a little bit different, because when the boss got 58, there were only 78 meetings," said Lor.
"Now, there are 88 meetings and we are already at 81, so it has taken me longer. I'm still very proud though. My team have done a great job and I'm so grateful to the owners, too. I hope I still have more wins left in me before the end of the season.
"When I got my licence last year, I would have been very happy with 20 or 30 winners, but then the horses arrived and I thought that I had some horses in my stable that were rated nicely, so I've been chasing hard for a high number since then."
Simply Brilliant may have been Lor's classiest winner of the day, at least on handicap ratings. But it was another Lor-trained chestnut - Glorious Forever - that shaped as a galloper of the future as he scored a four-length victory in the Class 3 Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Road Handicap over 1,800m.
Glorious Forever, a full-brother to Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup winner Time Warp, looked every bit a carbon copy of his year-older sibling as he rolled along on the lead throughout.
Barely asked for an effort at any stage by Purton, the rider even chanced a long look over his right shoulder at the 150m mark, only to find himself well advanced on his rivals.
"He looks a really nice horse," said Lor. "Is he as good as his brother? I hope so. His last run was good and he improved from that, but I didn't think he could win that easily.
"He's going up to Class 2 after that, so we will see. We might run him again this season, but we could just wait until next season because we will have a really nice horse then.
"When the decision was made to bring him to Hong Kong, Time Warp was good - but he wasn't as good as he became this season. It looks good now, but again, it has been a bit of good luck for us."
The stalemate in the jockeys' championship means that Purton still holds a five-win lead over Moreira, 124 to 119, with seven meetings remaining in the season. - HKJC
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