Wings Of War wins comfortably in Mary Slacks familiar black with a scarlet cap colours. (Picture: HKJC)
Mary Slack had her first winner as an owner in Hong Kong today when the Douglas Whyte -trained five-year-old Irish-bred Dark Angel gelding Wings Of War won a class 3 event over 1200m at Happy Valley under Harry Bentley.
From a draw of 6 Bentley broke well and was content to have the hard kncking grey in fifth place in touch with the fast pace.
In the straight Wings Of War turned it on impressively and ran out a comfortable one-and-a-half length winner.
He returned 5.00 on the Tote for a win.
It was his 15th start in Hong Kong.
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The timing of the win was fitting, considering it comes just a couple of weeks after a Mary Slack-bred horse fetched the top price at the BSA National Yearling Sale, sold to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Hong Kong racing used to be a closed book with only residents allowed to own, but it changed in late 2022 when Mary Slack became one of the first two persons to be allowed to own horses in Hong Kong as non-residents.
This development came after the HKJC authorized the ownership and racing of two thoroughbreds under the names of Chinese Billionaire and Yulong Supremo, Zhang Yuesheng, as well as Slack.
Tony Millard initially trained imported Wings of War, who is now trained by Douglas Whyte.
The gelding arrived as a twice winner, including having won a Gr 2 over six furlongs at Newbury as a two-year-old when trained by Clive Cox for owner Isa Salman Al Khalifa.
Wings Of War was bought in training by Slack and exported from the UK to Hong Kong.
He had finished second three times and third three times on the racing mad island before Wednesday’s historic win.
Unfortunately, Zhang Yuesheng had already beaten Slack to the accolade of being the first non-resident owner to win a race in Hong Kong.
His charge, an Irish-bred four-year-old gelding by Showcasing called Show Respect, was initially trained by Whyte.
He switched to Australian Mark Newnham’s yard in January this year and finally got off the mark in Hong Kong on 13 march when winning a class 4 event over 1650m.
He followed up in his next start, winning a class 3 event.
Whyte said after Wings Of War’s win, “That’s probably the most satisfying winner I’ve had this season. It means a lot for the owner Mary, her daughter Jessica (Jell) and Stephen Jell. It’s been an unbelievable connection for me, I’ve known them my whole career. To get a winner on the board for them as a trainer, it’s a highlight of my career. Mary, Jessica and Stephen have been so good to me. When I was waiting to start my training career in Hong Kong, they let me stay in their house at Newmarket for three months. They are fantastic people.”
