SA Champion Lyle Hewitson made the most of his Gr1 ride at Nakayama this morning, as 40-1 outsider Galore Creek was a gallant third in the Japanese 2000 Guineas.
The 17-10 favourite Contrail under Yuichi Fukunaga defeated market rival Salios(14-5) 0.50 length in the headliner and penultimate race of a bumper 12 race card in Tokyo.
Lyle Hewitson – no winners, but a fair day at the office! (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Hewitson was a distant further 3.5 lengths away in third, but at least added some meat to the trifecta dividend.
Rankest of rank outsiders Win Carnation (355-1) was fourth.
None of Lyle’s other mounts made the frame, but his share of the 31,519,000 yen stake for third (just over R5.5 million) would have helped him end the day on a high.
Click below to watch the race
Galore Creek broke from an outside draw and watched the early front runners pass before edging closer and outside the eventual winner in mid-field.
The Kinshasa no Kiseki colt made gradual headway approaching the third corner, had to shift to the outside again as the horses in front closed his path soon into the stretch but showed impressive speed in the last stages while having to cover ground for third.
Our outgoing champion jockey has amassed 13 wins from 102 rides in the land of the rising sun, at an impressive strike rate of 12.7%.
His mounts have earned total stakes of just on 300 million yen, which equates to over R52 million.
If, as reported. he returns to SA at the end of his short Japanese stint, he will have to take a substantial pay cut, no matter how much success he enjoys.
- Tabnews
