Mark Newnham’s marvellous March continued at Sha Tin on Sunday (29 March) when the Australian handler snared a treble that saw him return to the top of the trainers’ championship.

The third-year trainer claimed his first HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) triumph earlier this month, comfortably the biggest win of his Hong Kong career. On 18 March, he saddled the first quintet of his career.

Sunday’s treble fired him back to the trainers’ standings summit on 45 wins, two clear of Caspar Fownes on 43. Danny Shum sits two wins back on 41.

Ace (133lb) launched Newnham’s super Sunday when he finally broke through in the Class 5 Chung Chi Alumni Handicap (1400m) for Jerry Chau, who collected another pair to take his tally to 33 for the season.

“I think he’s better than Class 5,” Newnham said. “He galloped very well during the week. He drew a good gate, Jerry gave him an excellent ride, and I think that’ll help the horse’s confidence.

“He won with a bit of authority so I think there’s still improvement to come.”

Max Que (120lb) continued his remarkable season with his first victory in Class 2 company when he took out the Shaw Alumni Handicap (1600m) under Alexis Badel. The Newnham-trained five-year-old has now won four times and has finished in the frame in all nine races this season.

“The horse has been very consistent this season – he’s just a really solid horse,” Newnham said.

“Today, with a nice light weight, and a good stalking ride from Alexis, it was a really good run.

“At the start of the season, I probably didn’t think it was going to be a Class 2 winner. So, I’m happy what he’s achieved so far. You can send him out there and know he’s going to do his best. If that’s good enough to keep winning, great, but he’s had a fantastic season.”

Newnham brought up his treble when Ever Luck (135lb) claimed the Class 4 Faculty Of Education Alumni Handicap (1000m). The Capitalist three-year-old has now won two from five outings in his debut season, with James Orman in the saddle on both occasions.

“He’s always had natural speed, so with the blinkers back on and dropped to 1000m, we just decided to play to his asset,” Newnham said. “He’s struggled previously at 1200m carrying 135lb, but I thought today, with the blinkers on, he just had to use the outside fence as his guide and use that speed.

“As a three-year-old, I think the 1000m trip is as far as he wants to go. He won’t have too many more runs this season.”

Photo: HKJC