Keagan de Melo cruises to victory aboard Sunny Da Best (Pictures: HKJC)
Three races in succession were won by South African Jockey Academy graduates at Sha Tin on Saturday with Keagen de Melo winning the second race, Karis Teetan the third and Lyle Hewitson the fourth. Teetan went on to score a double and another SAJA graduate, Douglas Whyte, had a winner as a trainer.
De Melo was aboard the Chris So-trained Sunny Da Best, a New Zealand-bred three-year-old gelding by Proisir, in the second race, a class 4 handicap over 1400m. The gelding was having only his third career start. However, he had been third on debut and a close up seventh next time out, so started at Tote odds of 6.30 for a win. Jumping from draw six he showed good gatespeed to hit the front. He showed fine natural pace because De Melo kept him beautifully relaxed at a tempo that was stretching the field. In the straight De Melo sat for a while, but still maintained a lead and when he let him go he draw clear impressively to win by three lengths.
De Melo is now on 20 wins and is in joint 13th place on the log.
Hewitson was aboard the Ricky Yiu-trained Multisuper, an Australian-bred four-year-old gelding by Vancouver in the fourth race, a class 4 event over 1000m. He paid 7.70 on the Tote and jumped from draw eleven in the straight course event. He was handy throughout after jumping well from his favourable high draw. Hewitson drove him into the lead at the 200m mark and he fended off a challenger to win by a cosy 0,75 lengths.
Hewitson is now on 31 wins for the season and is in seventh place on the log.
Teetan is on 64 wins and is in second place on the log.
Meanwhile, Luke Ferraris has had 21 wins and is in 12th position on the log.
