Whyte works his magic on couple of lesser graders

Douglas Whyte was reeling in the big-race plaudits in the Derby once again but he was happy to land a couple of smaller fish, for John Size and Peter Ho Leung, to maintain his jockeys' championship lead as well. Ho-trained Heartland struck in the second for his breakthrough victory at start 21, while later in the afternoon, the Size-trained Victorious achieved the same thing somewhat quicker at only his third start. Whyte had had only five rides for Ho this season before Heartland for one win recently on Viva Guy. "Peter's been lean with his opportunities for me this season, so it was nice to get another one for him. I rode Heartland work during the week and he worked very well." Alan Aitken

Birthday boy Moore celebrates milestone

John Moore came up empty in the two feature races, but he still had plenty of cause to celebrate as progressive sprinter Sterling City gave him his 1,300th career victory on the trainer's 63rd birthday. "There's another win in him too, there's scope for improvement. I think he'll get up to about 105," Moore said after the four-year-old won off a mark of 91. Winning jockey Brett Prebble said the only thing holding Sterling City back might be a lack of size. "He is a lovely, honest little horse," Prebble said. "But it's going to be hard getting up near the top of Class Two with a big weight, he might need to find one of those mixed-grade sprints. He could struggle against that grade of horse with the big weight." Michael Cox

Mosse rides for 'free' after running foul of stewards

Trainer Richard Gibson was undefeated over the Sha Tin 2,000m yesterday, taking out the Class Four with Full Value as well as the Derby. But for Full Value's winning jockey Gerald Mosse, it was a day's work almost for free after falling foul of the stewards for not riding 10th-placed Heart Wood right out to the line in the sixth. The stewards pointed out that Mosse had breached the same rule on more than one occasion in the past and he was hit with a $40,000 fine that wiped out his winning percentage for Full Value. Gibson said Full Value had blossomed since getting to longer trips. "Lovely horse to train and I always thought he'd be a stayer, but he has really strengthened." Alan Aitken