General Iron's gritty last-gasp win continued Joao Moreira's recent prodigious strike rate with the Danny Shum Chap-shing stable but the trainer admitted to a few heart palpitations as the even money favourite scraped home.

Moreira threaded the needle on General Iron to edge out Lotus Breeze to bring up a riding double and give Shum the first leg of his own brace that continued the trainer's stellar start to the season.

"My heart was beating out of my chest," said an exasperated Shum after General Iron's victory. "It was a great ride and we are having a lot of luck with Joao lately."

After a relatively slow start, Shum has rocketed to second on the trainers' championship with 12 wins from the first 16 meetings, combining with Moreira for four wins in his last five rides for the yard.

Moreira, who had won the Class Five opener on Sweet Bean, said General Iron "showed a lot of braveness and tenacity" in the closing stages.

"We were tight for room where we were on the inside and the horse really fought hard to get the win," Moreira said. "That's a great sign for a horse like that to want to win that badly."

Shum's second winner Romantic Cash went back-to-back in Class Three with a comfortable win against what looked a far more challenging field than he faced last start.

Winning jockey Derek Leung Ka-chun said drawing gate five had allowed him more options with a horse he believes needs galloping room to show his best.

"Last start we had barrier one, and he only just managed to win, but being drawn that low isn't an advantage for him," Leung said. "He is a horse that doesn't begin that well, and he needs a little time to get into stride. From barrier one you are really fighting for position, but today, out in the middle, we didn't have to rush him out early."

Romantic Cash won his first start last season before spending the remainder of the term sidelined with a tendon injury. Shum says the horse's lay-off means there is still some upside for the five-year-old who will be closer to the top of Class Three next time he steps out.

"That was his sixth start in a race there today so he is still getting better," Shum said, with Leung also sensing some improvement to come from the five-year-old: "He was a lot fitter today and you can feel him growing in confidence.

Moreira's jockeys' championship lead now stands at 23 after he took his seasonal tally to 35 but he was putting Sweet Bean's win down more to luck in running than any magical ability on his part.

"We had a few things go our way, and from the draw we were able to give him a lovely run," he said, with Fownes also taking out race two to give him a Class Five double to start proceedings. A better barrier was also to thank in part for Southchina Command's win, which broke a 23-start winless streak to start his career.