Not only that but he only had four rides, so was going along at 100% for the night after the first three of them won.

 

Hewitson scored a double to reach the 50 wins mark for the season.

 

It was Happy Valley’s last meeting of the season, so both riders will be happy to have reached those milestones just before the racing break.

 

Ferraris’ treble took him to 35 wins in a season in which Zac Purton set a new record for number of wins.

 

Purton also scored a treble on the night to go to 176 wins for the season, which is now six better than Joao Moreira’s previous 170 record.

  

Ferraris had his first ride of the meeting in the fourth race on the David Hall-trained Fast Serve, a New Zealand-bred three-year-old gelding who had shown blistering pace when winning under Ferraris on debut at odds of 5/2. The gelding by Swiss Ace had also proved the usefulness of barrier trials on that debut because he cornered like a  seasoned professional while going like the clappers in the 1000m contest. Tonight was over the same 1000m course and distance and he started 7/10 favourite. He showed superb pace again and cornered well again before going on to win easing up by three lengths in the class 4 event.

 

In the next race Ferraris was aboard the Jimmy Ting-trained Concerto, a six-year-old Australian-bred gelding by Dalakhani, who won for the first time in Hong Kong under Ferraris last time out over 1650m at Happy Valley by 3,50 lengths despite odds of 12/1. Tonight he started over the same course and distance at odds of about 7/1 running off a mark nine points higher and having to jump from a wide draw of ten. He jumped well and Luke managed to take him to the front without exerting much energy. He set a steady gallop and Luke wound it up as he hit the turn. They were never going to catch him. Concerto, who obviously gets on well with Ferraris, won the class 4 event by a length.

  

Later Ferraris was aboard the Francis Lui-trained 13/10 shot Hameron in a class 3 handicap over 1800m. The five-year-old British-bred gelding by Night Of Thunder had run well in three starts in Hong Kong, having previously won three times in Australia. From pole position Hameron jumped well and Luke drove him to ensure he was in a handy position on the rail. He turned for home in third place and made his run between the front pair. Hameron only just held on in a blanket finish. 

 

Ferraris was placed fifth in the last race aboard the veteran eight-year-old Butterfield, who started at odds of 12/1.

 

Hewitson led them a merry dance in the latter race over 1650m on the Me Tsui-trained 14/1 shot Telecom Fighters (The Brothers War). The six-year-old Australian-bred kept going to win the class 2 event by half-a-length.

 

Hewitson won the third race, a class 4 event over 1200m, on the Francis Lui-trained Joy Coming, a hard-knocking Australian-bred three-year-old gelding by Sooboog, who went off at about 5/2. He came from midfield with a run down the centre and held on by a hair’s breadth from a charging horse on the outside.