The cancellation of Wednesday’s Happy Valley meeting proved a blessing for jockey Derek Leung, who seized the chance to put Lucky Sweynesse through his final serious gallop ahead of Sunday’s G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama.
As Typhoon Ragasa lashed his home city with torrential rain and gale force winds, Leung was enjoying a sunny day in Japan after rescheduling flights following the weather-affected meeting at Sha Tin on Sunday.
“That was his final gallop before the race so I am grateful for the opportunity, if it wasn’t for the typhoon I would have come on Friday and just ridden slow work,” Leung said. “So this is a real bonus. I got a feel for the track and to see how the horse would handle it.”
Lucky Sweynesse, a Group 1 winner who missed more than a year after a fetlock injury and subsequent surgery in 2024, has slowly built back into fitness and form. The seven-year-old returned with two runs late last season and then chased home the world’s top-rated sprinter Ka Ying Rising on Hong Kong’s opening day earlier this month.
Leung was impressed with how the gelding worked over Nakayama’s unique contours and famous final rise in a gallop, but wasn’t surprised, given how the horse handled the even tighter turning Happy Valley course early in his career.
“The racecourse itself is beautiful and of course it is a very short straight, but the last corner isn’t as sharp as Happy Valley so he will handle it,” he said. “He won at Happy Valley three times and raced well there as a younger horse. And he handled the uphill too – we just gave him a nice gallop – he handled it very well.”
Trainer Manfred Man was on hand as well, fresh off a breakthrough success with upset Korea Sprint winner Self Improvement following some previous overseas placings. The trainer kept his instructions to Leung simple, knowing that if Lucky Sweynesse can reproduce something approaching his best on Sunday he has a live chance, but also that squeezing him on the training track isn’t likely to bring that result.
“Manfred just told me ‘nothing fancy, just let him feel the track, let him be comfortable,’” Leung explained. “We know how he performed last time, it’s just about keeping him fit and well – we don’t want to overcook him in the morning, it is about letting him enjoy it.”
Man also booked Lucky Sweynesse for some paddock schooling in the spectacular Nakayama parade ring.
Leung, whose only previous Japanese rides came at Chukyo, has been doing extra preparation, too. He told Idol Horse he has watched every Sprinters Stakes replay going back to when Hong Kong hero Silent Witness won the race in 2005.
“I’ll talk tactics with the owners and trainer once the barriers come out,” Leung said. “But it will be the same: jump nice, travel smoothly and finish strong.”
History seems to be against Lucky Sweynesse: It has been 15 years since a Hong Kong-trained horse won the Sprinters Stakes, when Ultra Fantasy shocked Nakayama in 2010. Age is not on his side either: the only seven-year-old to have lifted the trophy in the past three decades was Australia’s globetrotting champion Takeover Target in 2006.
If Lucky Sweynesse can defy age and history this weekend, Leung’s unexpected midweek gallop in the Japanese sunshine may be remembered as key.
“Let’s hope so,” Leung said. “I think at his best he is good enough. I am looking forward to race day.” ∎
