Luke Ferraris rode a fine race on Happy Trio at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (HKJC)

Luke Ferraris grabbed the opportunity of having a relatively fancied horse with both hands at Happy Valley today.

His Douglas Whye-trained mount Happy Trio might have started at healthy odds of 8.20 for a single unit, but  he was the fancy of a number of the local tipsters and came out on top of the South China Morning Post’s tipping table.

However, a win was going to require a good ride from a tough draw of nine.

He drove his mount all the way to the first turn in the Class 4 1200m event.

The pace ws on and this enable Luke to slot into sixth place behind a vanguard of horses.

He moved up around the turn and came wide into the straight to get around the vanguard.

The horse found plenty to win by a neck.

Luke goes to eight wins for the season, just one behind Lyle Hewitson.

He is in joint seventh place on the log.