Frankie Lor dirty about unbeaten youngster Dream Winner’s second dozen-point penalty

Frankie Lor Fu-chuen has expressed his frustration at the second 12-point penalty Jockey Club handicappers meted out to Saturday’s Class Three Riding High Together (1,000m) favourite Dream Winner, the unbeaten young galloper the champion trainer has described as “the best three-year-old I’ve had in my stable”.

Lor was effusive in his praise of Dream Winner after the sprinter formerly named in honour of a champion boxer produced another knockout performance three weeks ago to make it two victories from two starts.

However, Lor was not so complimentary to the Jockey Club’s racing department after its handicapping team raised Dream Winner’s rating by a dozen points again, even though his second margin of success was less than half that of his debut triumph on May 21.

“First time, five lengths, 12 points. Second time, only two lengths, up 12 points again,” Lor said.

“It’s not needed for a young horse. He’s still a big baby. I hope he can handle the heavy weight.”

Dream Winner will carry 132 pounds – 13 pounds more than last time and four pounds extra than his debut impost – in the Riding High Together Handicap at Sha Tin, which features five of the speedsters he beat on June 10, plus last-start victor Ka Ying Spirit.

Not many punters will bet against Dream Winner in what Lor expects to be his final race this term – “after this one, we’ll probably give him a break until next season” – as the Exosphere gelding tries to beat Howdeepisyourlove on points in the Champion Griffin title fight announced on Thursday.

Monovale Farm’s Joe and Max Smithies bred Dream Winner and sold him at the 2021 Karaka National Yearling Sale for NZ$26,000 (HK$125,000) to the same connections who owned his close relative, three-time Group One-successful sprinter Start Wondering.

Then unnamed, Dream Winner jumped out at Woodville on November 3, 2021, leading all the way to dominate the first of the day’s 19 heats by six lengths. His trial caught the eye of Australian handler Les Kelly’s son, also called Les, and the Kellys bought him for an undisclosed amount and moved him to the Gold Coast.

Kelly Senior gelded his purchase and named him Dark Tszyu because of his admiration for Kostya Tszyu, the Thunder from Down Under, who won multiple light-welterweight world titles after moving from his birthplace in Russia to Sydney in Australia.

The galloper we know now as Dream Winner trialled at Gold Coast on November 12 last year, flew out of the outside barrier to establish an early lead and cruised, ears pricked, to a three-and-a-quarter-length victory, even though his jockey, Sean Cormack, spent much of the 900m heat looking between his legs and over his shoulder for non-existent dangers.

Kelly’s phone rang incessantly with calls from agents who had seen the Gold Coast trial and wanted to make him an offer he could not refuse, which is how Dream Winner ended up transferring to Lor’s Sha Tin yard, arriving in Hong Kong in the middle of January.

Lor has been patient with Dream Winner. He gave him three months to acclimatise to his new surroundings before his first Hong Kong preparatory heat, which he won by a length from subsequent debut victor Fast Serve, and then two more educational trials prior to blowing away a Class Four field in his initial race.

Dream Winner carries the colours of Linda So Hoi-yan, whose Winning Dreamer won his first six starts for Lor and jockey Vincent Ho Chak-yiu but failed to register a victory in Class One or Group company. However, Hong Kong’s undefeated, undisputed, most exciting prospect is likely to make the grade.