KINGSTON, Jamaica - Three-year-old Ha Gow Siu Mei never raised a sweat in coming away for a comfortable maiden win under jockey Shane Ellis by 5 ¾ lengths going 1,000-metres straight at Caymanas Park on Saturday, August 6, 2022.
Ha Gow Siu Mei clocked 1:01.4 seconds with splits of 22.4, 46.4 seconds, with Dujour (Anthony Thomas) finishing second. Sneaky Joe (Dick Cardenas) grabbed third-place.
Trained by champion Anthony Nunes, Ha Gow Siu Mei, before winning, was a consistent performer finishing second in the three races he ran.
“I am heartened with this performance. When he ran second in January, 2022, he chipped a bone in his knee. Dr White from Trinidad came and did surgery to remove the chip bone. Still, we had high hopes for him as a three-year-old. The truth is we did not think that he was ready as we just gave him a couple of half-mile gallops and then Shane (Ellis) said why not put him in this race and see how he performs.
“We know that he is a nice horse, but we did not think that he was fit enough as yet for this race, and he did run well — a nice comfortable race — which is good to see, especially coming from surgery. Notwithstanding the weight to get Ellis on board, I was not bothered. I was more interested in the horse and its care. It was more important to have someone with experience who can take care of him if he came under any pressure and who will not beat him up to win the race. So the extra weight did not cross my mind at all. We are hoping that next year we will have a progressive four-year-old as he is a lovely colt with good prospects ahead of him,” Nunes said.
