Silvestre de Sousa piloted the former Cape-based Horse Of Fortune to victory in the Gr1 Macau Hong Kong Trophy on Sunday.
Silvestre De Sousa
The Brazilian has enjoyed a golden run during his short-term Hong Kong stint, and teamed up with Dennis Yip Chor-hong to deny legendary trainer Tony Cruz a third straight title at the Taipa track.
De Sousa gave Horse Of Fortune a gun rails run on the rain-soaked track that had favoured on-speed horses all day, but admits he was riding for luck when he elected to sneak up the inside instead of attempting to push out around the leaders.
“When you’re on the inside, you always pray for luck a little bit, but it paid off,” he said.
“The horse is very tough and he really tried hard in that race, he didn’t win by a huge margin, but it was enough to make sure it was a win.”
Yip received the eight-year-old gelding from rival trainer Tony Millard at the start of the term and said he brushed aside suggestions of retirement to set the horse for this race.
“For an old horse, he has done so well, he joined my stable at the start of this season not getting any younger and his rating was very high,” he said.
Horse Of Fortune, then known as Strongman (Karl Neisius) wins the Listed Sophomore Sprint in easy fashion (Equine Edge)
It was subsequently confirmed on Monday that Horse Of Fortune has been retired. He was known as Strongman locally, winning his first three starts for Glen Puller, including the Listed Sophomore Sprint.
The gelding scored another seven wins after being sold and exported to Hong Kong, including two at Grade 3 level, amassing well over R20 million in stakes.
He was bred by Northfields Stud by Stronghold out of Lammerskraal mare Sweet Virginia, making him a half brother to Vodacom Durban July and L’Ormarins Queens Plate champion Do It Again.
The gelding scored another seven wins after being sold and exported to Hong Kong, including two at Gr3 level, banking well over R20 million in stakes.
