HK Stakes Success for Karaka Select Sale Graduate

Fifty Fifty (NZ) (Thorn Park) continued the outstanding start he has made to his Hong Kong career with a first black-type success in Monday's HK$3 million Chinese Club Challenge Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin.

A $75,000 purchase at the 2014 Select Sale and an easy winner of his only New Zealand start two years later, Fifty Fifty (formerly known as Speedy Grey) has now won four of his six Hong Kong starts and placed in the other two.

Ridden by Karis Teetan on Monday for trainer Peter Ho, Fifty Fifty sat in third place before taking command 350 metres from home. He was challenged halfway down the straight by the hot favourite Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook), but fought him off and scored convincingly by half a length in a quick time of 1:21.10.

"I was very confident about this race," Ho said. "The horse keeps on improving. He won earlier when he was only 70 or 80 percent fit.

"He was taking on big horses, so there was a concern about whether he would be up to it, but he's a good horse and you don't keep good horses in the stable. He'll be better again when he goes back to the mile."

Raced by Lee Wan Keung and Lee Wong Wai Kuen, Fifty Fifty has now earned HK$5.427 million (NZ$980,000) in prizemoney.

Fifty Fifty was bred by Miss J M, K J and Mrs M L Shaw and is a sibling to two winners including last week's $80,000 Dunstan Feeds 1500 Championship Final placegetterMonrecour(NZ) (Zacinto).

The damUdiditagain(NZ) (D'Cash) won three races including the Listed Otago Champagne Stakes and was Group 2-placed.