Trust has a fine turn of foot and the Hong Kong tracks should suit him (JC Photos)
A top member of last season’s South African three-year-old crop has a chance of competing in this season’s Hong Classic four-year-old series, which carries massive stakes prizes.
The former Candice and Tammy Dawson-trained Gr 2 Jackpot City Dingaans-winning Heavenly Blue gelding Trust has begun his training on the racing-mad island, where he is being trained by Mark Newnham.
Hong Kong have an enviable model in that there is no three-year-old classic series and instead the classic events are for four-year-olds, including the island’s most prestigious local event, The Hong Derby, which is to be run over 2000m on 21 March, 2027.
The two other events in the series are the Hong Kong Classic Mile, to be run on January 31, and the Hong Kong Classic Cup over 1800m, to be run on 28 February.
The first two events have had a HK$1 million increase in total stakes to HK$14 million and the Derby has had a HK$2 million increase to HK$28 million.
So at current exchange rates those three races are worth the equivalent of R29.82 million for the first two and R59,64 million for the Derby!
All three of the races are run on the Sha Tin turf.
An interesting aspect of the four-year-old Classic series is the races do not have Group status and are classified as restricted races for four-year-olds.
Luke Ferraris famously won the Classic Mile two seasons ago with the Mark Newnham-trained My Wish (Flying Artie). My Wish was only rated 79 at the time.
My Wish was second in both the Classic and the Derby and one fascinating point is the Derby was won that season by a horse called Cape Ferrat, whose career record reads 13 runs and only one win, that win being of Hong Kong’s most prestigious local race, the Hong Derby, which carried a stake that year of HK$26 million.
So Trust will certainly not be outclassed in his bid for Hong Kong four-year-old classic series glory.
Australian Mark Newnham, who has quickly risen to be a leading trainer in Hong Kong, followed his Classic Mile win in 2025 by winning the Hong Kong Derby in 2026 with Sacred Ibis (O’Reilly).
Trust will thus be in good hands.
Trust will also be keeping his original name and is owned by partners called the Chef’s Table syndicate, who had success with the South African-bred Silvano gelding Chefano. The latter was known in South Africa as Vacquero and won twice before finishing third in the Dingaans. In Hong Kong he won a Gr 3 and was runner up in a Gr 1, accumulating stakes earnings of HK$7,766,800.
Trust won twice in seven starts in SA, including the Gr 2 Dingaans over 1600m. He was never out of the first three. In Gr 3 events he had one second and two thirds and he was third in the Gr 2 TAB Gauteng Guineas and a short-head second in the Gr 1 TAB SA Classic over 1800m.
He has been accorded an opening rating of 84 and should also be perfectly suited to the classic series as he has the speed for a mile and will stay 2000m.
Trust has been mainly swimming and trotting since starting his training regime on 28 September, but he has had three gallops too on the Sha Tin All Weather track. Judging by the times of the gallops he must have had two gallops over 500m and one over 1000m.
Trust was bred by the Tawny Syndicate and raced in South Africa by one of its founding members Larry Nestadt along with two other members who often race Tawny Syndicate-bred horses, Lindsay Ralphs and Gary Player.
The breeders as well as South African racing fans will be following this good looking and classy horse with interest.
