CHAMPION’S WAY & PERFECT PAIR

31st March 2019

Jockey Joao Moreira spoke in glowing terms about exciting three-year-old Champion’s Way after the rising star was part of the latest Price Bloodstock winning double at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Chris So-trained Perfect Pair took out his second win under the Brazilian rider then thirty minutes later Moreira was bringing home Champion’s Way for the fourth time in as many appearances.

Champion’s Way overcame a wide draw with a minimum of fuss before winning by almost two lengths and the John Size-trained Hinchinbrook gelding has Moreira excited about the future.

“He is still maturing, he has come a long way since the first time I rode him at Happy Valley, but he is only going to get better,” Moreira said. “What I love about this horse is that he gives you whatever you ask but if you don’t ask him, he doesn’t give it to you. What I mean by that is that he conserves his energy, he only does what is needed and that is great to see in a young horse. So far he has only raced at 1200m but I have no doubt he will run further later as he matures.”

For Chris So, he admits he doesn’t have quite the same “blue sky dreams” to work with as far as Perfect Pair is concerned but the honest four-year-old is helping himself to keep the wins coming.

From an inside gate, Perfect Pair got the perfect ride from Moreira before scraping home by a short head, following hi neck margin in his previous-start win.

“I think it’s great that he doesn’t win by far – it means he can only get small penalties in the handicaps!” laughed So. “But I don’t want to sell his win short today: he carried a big weight and once again he really tried hard when the others were pressing him hard in the 100 metres. He’ll go up to Class 3 now but he won’t have so much weight and maybe he can win again. Let’s face it, he’s only had four races so there could be more improvement. His two wins have been at 1400m but the more I see of him, the more I think he doesn’t really sprint, he grinds away and he looks to me like he might even be better over further. ”