Ricky Yiu Poon-fai became only the fifth trainer to land 900 Hong Kong winners at Sha Tin on Sunday but he certainly wasn’t getting carried away, immediately shifting his focus to amassing the next 100.

“I don’t really feel anything, I’ll just put my head down and do the best I can, keep the hard work going – 1,000 winners would mean something,” Yiu said.

It was the victory of Eternal Bloom in the Class Four Ma On Shan Handicap (1,400m) that saw Yiu hit the mark and he doubled his haul in the very next race, with Good Luck Friend shocking punters by taking out the Class Two Tai Mo Shan Handicap (1,400m) at $39.

Aged 65, there was a time when Yiu thought this season could be his last until the Jockey Club revised the performance criteria for training beyond standard retirement age, meaning he can continue until the end of 2027-28 season provided he continues to hit certain benchmarks.

“It was a big relief. If the rule was retirement at 65 that’s fine, but they’ve changed the rule and I’m happy to keep going,” Yiu said.

“Before the club announced I would have five more years, I wouldn’t consider 1,000 (winners), but now I have a chance of getting up to 1,000.”

Shum’s Winner delivers

So confident was Danny Shum Chap-shing that Victor The Winner would live up to his name on debut at Sha Tin on Sunday, the veteran trainer implored owner Chu Yun-lau to come back from the mainland and “take a photo”.

Take a photo Chu did, with Victor The Winner’s dominant victory quashing any doubt Shum had about whether calling Chu back to Hong Kong was the right move.

“He’s a very impressive horse. He trialled well last season and again this season,” Shum said.

“I spoke to the owner and said he had to come back to Hong Kong because he was in mainland China. I said ‘the horse is a chance to win, so please come back and take a photo’.”

A four-year-old son of Toronado, Victor The Winner jumped cleanly under Matthew Poon Ming-fai and was never headed, pulling clear strongly in the straight to beat home runner-up The Hulk by three and a quarter lengths.

It was a performance that left Shum convinced there is plenty left to come from the gelding.

“I think he’ll handle Class Three when he gets there, I can’t see him having any problems in Class Three,” said Shum, adding that he won’t rush Victor The Winner back to the races.

“This sire, you can’t chase them too hard – most horses from this sire need a little bit of time, four to six weeks is better than two weeks. Then they can grow in confidence and keep developing.”

Shum went onto complete a double thanks to the victory of Ka Ying Spirit and the third placing of Packing Victory ensured he was the inaugural winner of the newly introduced Trainer Challenge.

Punters invested HK$3.8 million in the new offering, which was significantly less than the HK$7.2 million bet on the Jockey Challenge, however Jockey Club executives are hopeful the Trainer Challenge will become more popular as punters grow more familiar with it.

Ho feeding off the pressure

Peter Ho Leung is welcoming the pressure that comes with having two strikes against his name after opening his 2022-23 account on the first day of the campaign thanks to the win of Amazing Victory.

The 62-year-old has fallen short of the Jockey Club’s performance benchmark for trainers in the past two seasons, managing only 11 and 14 winners respectively.

When renewing his licence in June, the licensing committee warned Ho that “should he not satisfy the performance criteria at the conclusion of any subsequent racing season they may not be granted a trainer’s licence for the following racing season”.

“The pressure is there but if you have no pressure you cannot work hard. If you let the prospect of retirement weigh on your mind it is not fair on the owners,” Ho said.

“It’s always nice to get an early winner and I’m always doing my job positively – I’m thinking positive and working hard. I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years. The main thing is trying to get more support from the owners.”

Ho was forced to watch Amazing Victory’s success from home after his son tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, something that will keep the veteran trainer off the track for a week.

Amazing Victory finished strongly to take out the Class Four Yi Tung Shan Handicap (1,200m) under Karis Teetan, sneaking up the rail to pinch a narrow victory ahead of Brave Dreams and Science Patch.