Caspar Fownes eyes back-to-back wins at Sha Tin with Alpha Strike and other runners

Caspar Fownes was left scratching his head after Alpha Strike’s wayward win at Sha Tin last time out but is not expecting similar antics when he goes for back-to-back wins at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The speedy son of I Am Immortal won his only start in Australia pre-import and made a winning local start last October before going winless in five subsequent runs.

He returned this campaign as a much improved model, lowering the colours of Solid State in a devastating performance, despite wandering all the way from the stands rail into the middle of the track.

Nothing has come to light since to explain why he shifted so markedly across the course, but Fownes is happy to give him the benefit of the doubt with James Orman on board for the first time in the Class Three Shing Mun Handicap (1,000m).

“It would be nice if he didn’t do it again,” Fownes said. “I don’t know what he was looking at last time, but he seems to be in good form.

“He pulled up really well after it and he was good that day; sometimes horses do that. They’ll see something and just shy away from it. It didn’t matter anyway – he was still strong through the line.

“Obviously he gets a bit of a penalty and has no claim with Ellis [Wong Chi-wang] on, so we’ve put James on who trialled him before that, so we’ll give him the chance to get back on him and hopefully do something.”

The feature of the day is the Class Two Muk Min Ha Handicap (1,650m) on dirt and Fownes will rely on Sky Vino, who goes for a third course and distance win from barrier one.

The Vino Rosso galloper has an excellent record on the all-weather of two wins and as many placings from five starts.

He ended the campaign with two good runs from horror draws and makes his reappearance on the back of a promising trial, but Fownes knows he has a tough task on his first start in Class Two company.

“He’s a very honest horse – he’s going up in grade and down in weight, so he’s probably a place chance I would say as there’s a few very good horses in that race,” Fownes said.

“Talents Ambition is a very good dirt horse so he looks to have the race under his control, but with a light weight I’m sure Sky Vino should have a nice race and give us a decent first-up performance with improvement to come.”

Elsewhere on the card, Fownes is looking to scoop a lucrative PP bonus for the connections of Hymnbook, who bids for his first local victory in the Class Three Chinese Recreation Club Challenge Cup (1,800m).

A winner at Nottingham when trained by Sean Woods in Britain, he showed plenty of promise in his first six Hong Kong starts for Brett Crawford before switching stables in the off-season.

He made his debut for Fownes with a promising third at the Valley and his new trainer is hoping a step up in distance will work the oracle.

“I’m very happy with him, he’s an improving horse and he steps up to probably what we feel is his right distance at the 1,800m trip,” Fownes said.

“We’d like to get a soft gate and get him in a decent spot. We’re trying our best to get the bonus for his owner and he has a good chance.”

Fownes will also start Corleone in the Class Three Shek Wai Kok Handicap (1,650m) on dirt, the consistent Silver Spurs in the Class Four Kwok Shui Handicap (1,200m) and Perfect Team in the Class Four Sha Tsui Handicap (1,650m) on dirt.