All Cash, paying HK$26 on the Tote, gives Hugh Bowman a last gasp IJC berth and his rival for the berth, Luke Ferraris, is second on the second favourite Fortune Star. Ferraris had one more chance in the last race race but he was unplaced on a 10/1 shot, albeit just 0,75 lengths behind the winner (Picture: HKJC)
Luke Farraris said about two week ago, “I’ve been chasing the IJC since I’ve been here but I’ve always just fallen short. Now that they’ve reduced it to two spots I’m in the same position again. I’m sitting second and I’ve got Bowman breathing down my neck. I’ll do what I can to get in and hopefully it’s good enough, but I’ll be pretty disappointed if it’s not. We’ll give it our best.”
However, there was more disappointment because this time he not only lost out on a count out but Hugh Bowman also earned the berth in scarcely believable last gasp fashion.
Ferraris went in to today’s Happy Valley meeting lying in second place on the Hong Kong Jockeys log and staying there would have secured him a berth in the IJC, because the log leader Zac Purton had already qualified as Champion Jockey.
However, he was only one win ahead of Hugh Bowman and the other crucial statistic was Bowman had acccumulated way more second place finishes than him.
Therefore, Luke was going to have to stay one ahead.
Ferraris had four rides to Bowman’s five.
Luke would have breathed a sigh of relief when Bowman’s late swoop on the 25/1 outsider Flow Water Flow failed by a whisker to earn him a valuable win in Race 3.
Ferraris had finished unplaced on an outsider in the first race, while Bowman finished third, beaten just half-a-length, when running on late on a fancied horse in the second race.
Bowman was on another fancied horse in the fourth race, Denfield who was paying 4.20 on the Tote, while Ferraris was on Fatal Blow, who was paying 7.10.
Luke entered the straight in second place one out and one back on the back of a strong pace and he led at the 100m mark.
However, Bowman and Denfield burst through the centre and looked to have won it until Everstar flashed up late to snatch it from him.
When Bowman finished unplaced on the favourite Hakka Radiance in the fifth race, his chances of an IJC berth looked forlorn as his only remaining ride was in the seventh race where his mount All Cash was a 25/1 shot, while Ferraris was on the second favourite Fortune Star in that race and he also had one more ride after that in the last race.
However, world class sportsman have the habit of pulling something out of the hat when least expected and that is exactly what Bowman did.
Bowman pinged the gate from draw seven on the grey All Cash in the 1650m Class 4 event and found a handy position one out in fourth place, while Ferraris had dropped out from draw nine and was on the rail near the back.
The pace was slow and All Cash turned it on best of all in the sprint for home.
Ferraris managed to burst through late towards the outside on Fortune Star, but he was a neck shy at the line.
It must have been a heartbreaking moment and a classic case of so near and yet so far.
Vincent Ho, a previous winner of the IJC, earned the berth for the leading homegrown jockey after scoring a double at the meeting.
