Macau's former champion jockey Peter Ho got the new season off to a flying start with a winning treble on Saturday's opening day at Taipa.
Ho was in brilliant form, winning the first race for the new season on the Sio Cheong prepared Numberone Mingxuan in the Maiden Handicap over 1200 metres.
Numberone Mingxuan whilst still a little on the green side was able to stretch late and nail Sweet Bumhan (Oscar Chavez) right on the line to win by a neck, with Ventures Raiders (Cliffy Lai) in third.
The Joe Lau trained Northern Legend gave Ho a quick race to race double, but not before having to survive a protest from the runner up Jvala ridden by Luis Corrales.
After consideration the stewards ruled that whilst Northern Legend shifted ground inwards and bumped Jvala inside the 100 metre mark before being corrected by Ho, the stewards were of the opinion that even with the degree of interference Jvala would not have beaten Northern Legend home, despite the winning margin of a neck.
That was plainly evident on the race replay with both horses being fully tested over the final stages and Jvala unable to take any ground off Northern Legend.
Trillion King capped off Peter Ho's day with a strong win in the Class 2 & 3 over 1200 metres to also give trainer Sio Cheong a double for the afternoon.
A son of Myboycharlie, Trillion King has now won three races in Macau and will continue to pay his way for connections in races up to 1500 metres.
The five year old commenced his career with Kris Lees in Newcastle winning a maiden over 1100 metres at Scone and a Benchmark 64 over 1400 metres at Newcastle.
Ho who was Macau's champion jockey in the 2016/17 racing season on 52 winners and finished in third place last season behind Ruan Maia and Luis Corrales on 43 victories.
Oscar Chavez also got off to a great start for the new racing year with a double.
Chavez produced a lovely front running ride on the Patrick Lee trained Farson to win the Class 2 over 1500 metres.
Farson is an Australian import that arrived in the enclave with outstanding form with four wins from seven starts, including the Group 2 Autumn Classic at Caulfield in 2017 when trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
The son of Snitzel was then shipped to Hong Kong but due to tendon issues never made it to the racetrack.
After being sent back to Australia for a lengthy spell he was then shipped to Macau. The six year old went close on debut in running third to Brilliant Debbie in Class 2 over 1500 metres.
Saturday's win was a strong effort and if the gelding stands up he will be a force to be reckoned with in the Cup races this season.
Chavez completed his double when he guided the C F (Victor) Chan prepared Rivalry home to a narrow win over Oh So Easy (Dayverson Barros, with Mission Vision (Shogo Nakano) in third spot in the Class 2 & 3 over 1200 metres later in the day.
