Lyle Hewitson returns to the winner’s enclosure after the Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Stud-bred Flower Alley gelding Parterre had given him his 100th win in Hong Kong (Picture: HKJC)
Lyle Hewitson was stuck on 99 career wins in Hong Kong for 33 days as he went 8 meetings and 72 rides without a victory.
However, today at the Chinese New Year meeting he finally broke the drought when scoring on the Chris So-trained 20/1 shot Parterre in a class 4 Handicap over 1200m.
For good measure this seven-year-old gelding is a South African-bred son of Flower Alley bred by Wilgerbosdrift And Mauritzfontein Stud and furthermore the trifecta positions were filled by South African jockeys.
Hewitson, from a good draw of three, drove his mount from the off and claimed quite an easy lead.
In the straight Parterre looked likely to be overtaken by the Luke Ferraris-ridden Spicy Gold, who had sat second in the running, as he had drawn alongside him by the 300m mark.
However, Parterre found extra and reclaimed the lead.
He finished a length in front of the fast-finishing second favourite Patch Of Theta, who was ridden by Keagan de Melo.
Luke Ferraris, who was on a 41 ride losing streak, then came out and won the next race, a class 4 handicap over 1200m, on the Mark Newnham-trained Windcheater (Toronado).
He found a handy position on the rail from draw four and the horse travelled supremely.
He had traffic problems in the straight with his horse clearly travelling like a winner and after switching outward he eventually found a gap and surged through to win by 1,25 lengths paying 3.50 for a Tot win.
Hewitson is now on 20 wins for the season and is in joint seventh place on the log.
Ferraris is on 19 wins and is in 9th place.
De Melo is on 14 wins and is in joint 11th place.
