They first joined forces over a decade ago but until Sunday afternoon trainer Paul O’Sullivan and jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu had never tasted success as a combination.

That situation was rectified in rather unlikely circumstances on the Sha Tin all-weather track, with Ho booting home $43 chance Apache Pass in the Class Four Tai Hang Tung Handicap (1,650m) to deliver the Kiwi handler his sixth victory of the season.

“Vincent hasn’t had many rides for me, but he rides well doesn’t he?” said a typically understated O’Sullivan.

Four days after partnering Champion Pal into second for O’Sullivan, Ho settled Apache Pass one-out, one-back in a race lacking early speed before easing the five-year-old out on cornering and working his way to front by the 250m.

Apache Pass stuck on to hold off the David Hall-trained Sun Of Makfi by a neck, breaking his Hong Kong maiden at start eight after one win from seven starts in Western Australia pre-import.

“He’s a horse who reacts well on the surface and he’s taken a while to build fitness. He came up with a good draw and I thought if he ran up to his Conghua trial, he would be competitive,” O’Sullivan said.

“The biggest problem he’s faced here is that he was trained in Australia left-handed and he’s really struggled to go right-handed. He’s getting a little bit better all the time, but that could be a limiting factor here in the short and medium term.”

Ho has now ridden winners on the past four cards and sits on 26 for the campaign after 37 meetings.

Fownes fires from home

He may not have been allowed at the races because of his vaccine status but Caspar Fownes wasn’t far away from the action as he landed a double, cheering home El Valiente and The Hulk from his place within Sha Tin racecourse that overlooks the home straight.

Fownes combined with Joao Moreira to take out the opener with El Valiente, with the five-year-old making the most of a solid tempo to romp home from behind midfield in the Class Five Un Chau Handicap (1,650m) on the all-weather track.

It took the son of Savabeel 19 starts to break his maiden but he did it in style, seeing off last-start winner Run Des Run by three and three-quarter lengths.

The Hulk also finished over the top of his rivals in the Class Three Cheung Sha Wan Handicap (1,200m) after Karis Teetan took the galloper back to last from barrier 10.

With debutant Lightning Bolt, who jumped the $2.80 favourite, in traffic for most of the home straight, The Hulk delivered at $15 to improve his Hong Kong record to three wins from 33 starts.

Teetan went on to ring up a double of his own, taking out the Class Three Nam Shan Handicap (1,800m) on the all-weather track aboard the Danny Shum Chap-shing-trained Romantic Combo.

Pakistan Star retires

The curtain has finally come down on the career of much-loved galloper Pakistan Star a little over a month after he stopped in a race for the third time.

After stints with Tony Cruz and Paul O’Sullivan at Sha Tin, Pakistan Star moved to Doug Watson’s stable after stopping twice during races in Hong Kong – first in the “Pakistan Stop” Group Three Premier Plate in June 2017 when he started a $1.2 favourite and then in the 2019 Group Two Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) when he jumped but refused to run further than about 100m.

He finished fourth in his only completed race in the United Arab Emirates in December 2020 before returning a year later and stopping again after jumping with the field, getting squeezed between runners and deciding he’d had enough.

Pakistan Star heads of to Australia’s Living Legends with two Group One wins to his name after he did the QE II Cup-Champions & Chater Cup double for Cruz in 2018.

Owned by Kerm Din until the prominent owner’s death last month, Pakistan Star burst onto the scene with mind-boggling last-to-first performances in his first two runs and amassed almost HK$39 million in prize money across 27 Hong Kong starts and five wins.

Dark Dream ends lengthy drought

A week after finishing second behind another ex-Hong Kong galloper in Ho Ho Khan, the Ben and JD Hayes-trained Dark Dream saluted for the first time in almost three years in a benchmark 100 at Flemington on Saturday.

Taken back to Australia after two wins from 17 starts in Hong Kong – predominantly under the tutelage of Frankie Lor Fu-chuen before a short stint with David Hayes – Dark Dream broke through in the eighth start of his second coming Down Under following three seconds.

Trained by Kerry Parker before heading to Hong Kong, Dark Dream won the Group One Queensland Derby before running fourth in the Sha Tin equivalent in 2019.

Saturday’s success was the seven-year-old’s first since his victory in a Class One at Sha Tin three weeks after that Hong Kong Derby effort.

Campton’s perfect start

Still in Australia and former Hong Kong Jockey Club racing specialist Adam Campton has made a dream start to his training career, saluting with his very first runner.

After moving to the Gold Coast in July to live out his dream of becoming a trainer, Campton saddled up Lord Markel at Warwick on Saturday afternoon and the five-year-old duly saluted at $6.

Things aren’t going quite as well for Jockey Club presenter Andrew Le Jeune, who has been left stranded by Hong Kong’s ban on flights from a string of countries after travelling to Australia to see his family.