Brett Crawford is all smiles after his first win at Happy Valley (Picture: HKJC)
Brett Crawford’s first win at Happy Valley was with the horse who gave him both his fist runner and first winner in Hong Kong, the New Zealand-bred six-year-old gelding Speedy Smartie.
In the second race of the Wednesday meeting this week, Speedy Smartie started favourite under Jerry Chau, paying 2.80 on the Tote.
The bay gelding jumped from a tough draw of nine but Chau did not rush him and he was always traveling well in midfield.
Chau managed to find cover and cornered expertly.
In a blanker finish it was Speed Smartie who found extra to prevail by a neck, denying Lyle Hewitson on the David Hayes-trained Oriental Surprise.
Later, Luke Ferraris maintained his second place on the log position by winning a class 4 handicap over 1200m on the Ricky Yiu-trained Chaming Babe, who paid 3.20 on the Tote and came from the box seat to win by a length.
Hollie Doyle had earlier scored her first win in the first meeting of her short-term contract.
