The Alfonso
If veteran trainer Joe Lau can't win Sunday's Group Three Hong Kong Macau Trophy with The Alfonso then he at least hopes one of his fellow visitors can restore some pride to Macau racing after lean returns in recent interport events.
Raced by Raffles Farm's Dato Yap, The Alfonso is one of five raiders to cross the Pearl River Delta to take on a particularly strong group of locals in the first leg of an annual two-race series that has become an increasingly one-sided affair.
"We haven't done so well in the last few years so let's hope we can bring back some of those glory days," Lau said yesterday after visiting his five-year-old at Sha Tin.
"It is never easy bringing horses here to compete in Hong Kong, because they are of such good quality and the quality of Macau horses in the last five years has dropped off a bit. It's a very important race to us, so it would be good for our horses to be competitive."
It has now been six years since Viva Pronto's famous upset win at triple-figure odds at Sha Tin and while a Macau-trained runner hasn't been victorious in an interport race at home or away since, the trend at Sha Tin has been especially worrying.
Just one Macanese competitor has placed at Sha Tin since 2010 and in the last three instalments of the race the best result from the away team is eighth.
The Alfonso was a four-time winner for Chris Waller in Australia before moving to Macau last year and capturing Lau's first Macau Derby win in April – a highlight for the handler after he had won most of the other feature races at Taipa during a decorated career.
Macau domiciled four-year-olds Bobo So Cute and Valiant Soldier could also be a threat in the HK$3 million race.
Raced by Raffles Farm's Dato Yap, The Alfonso is one of five raiders to cross the Pearl River Delta to take on a particularly strong group of locals in the first leg of an annual two-race series that has become an increasingly one-sided affair.
"We haven't done so well in the last few years so let's hope we can bring back some of those glory days," Lau said yesterday after visiting his five-year-old at Sha Tin.
"It is never easy bringing horses here to compete in Hong Kong, because they are of such good quality and the quality of Macau horses in the last five years has dropped off a bit. It's a very important race to us, so it would be good for our horses to be competitive."
It has now been six years since Viva Pronto's famous upset win at triple-figure odds at Sha Tin and while a Macau-trained runner hasn't been victorious in an interport race at home or away since, the trend at Sha Tin has been especially worrying.
Just one Macanese competitor has placed at Sha Tin since 2010 and in the last three instalments of the race the best result from the away team is eighth.
The Alfonso was a four-time winner for Chris Waller in Australia before moving to Macau last year and capturing Lau's first Macau Derby win in April – a highlight for the handler after he had won most of the other feature races at Taipa during a decorated career.
Macau domiciled four-year-olds Bobo So Cute and Valiant Soldier could also be a threat in the HK$3 million race.
