It has not been easy for Mauritian jockey Akash Aucharuz getting established in Macau but his persistence and hard work is now starting to pay off with young rider booting home a treble at Taipa.

His early rides were von horses that were mostly big double figure quotes before Aucharuz landed his first winner Man From The Bay at odds of 35/1 for trainer Alan Tam back in March.

Another 12 rides followed on out of form horses before he booted home Happy Cash at 20/1 in the Group 1 Chairman’s Challenge Cup on Derby day again for Alan Tam.

That win you would have thought should have opened doors for him, but it was still a hard slog before Explosive Blast saluted on the sand at the end May paying a whopping $720.00 for the win.

Slowly the tide started to turn for the former champion South African apprentice with a double on June 13 before his treble last Friday night on the sand.

Three times champion trainer Alan Tam has been a big supporter of Aucharuz and it was his US import Holy Ascension that got Akash off to a good start on Friday night with a win in the 0 to 55 Special Conditions race over 1350 metres.

Holy Ascension proved too strong for Gold And Silver (Luis Corrales) to win by three quarters of a length with Hongkong Winepro (Charles Perkins) a short head away in third.

Aucharuz lived up to his name as the long-shot king when he caused a major upset in the Class 2 over 1050 metres knocking off the odds on favorite Sparta on the debut runner Gem Eagle who paid a massive $399.50 for the win.

Gem Eagle ran 1.01.7 for the 1050 metres just a tick outside the class record held by Gem Soldier who is raced by the same connections of 1.01.6

By the Exceed And Excel sire Reward For Effort, Gem Eagle commenced his racing career in Australia as Doin’ The Deed where he won a Cranbourne maiden over 1500 metres when prepared by Colin Alderson.

The chestnut gelding had shown that he handled the sand in a lead up trial prior to Friday night’s race.

Aucharuz finished the night sharing the final event on the 16/1 pop Wan Shi Sheng Li with Charles Perkins who rode the even money favorite Great China, who was the best of a good things beaten in the Class 4 over 1200 metres.

Great China blew the start before Perkins switched across to the rail and saved valuable ground to get back into the race.

Just as Great China was making his run at the two hundred he was knocked off stride by Bowl Lucky who shifted ground abruptly earning his rider Leo Salles a severe reprimand from the steward’s panel.

Great China powered home under Perkins putting in an almighty late stretch but the judge could not separate the pair declaring a dead heat.

“What a lovely night. I thought that Holy Ascension was a good chance it was the right race for him and I was confident Wan Shi Sheng Yi would run well as he had gone too hard in his previous run.” Aucharuz said.

“The big surprise was Gem Eagle he went much better then he suggested he would go in his work.

“I am really happy that all my hard work is paying off now and I’m starting to get more opportunities.”

Gem Eagle is prepared by Danny Wong who led in two winners over the weekend to bring his tally to 31 winners for the season just two behind premiership leader Sio Cheong on 33.

Both are first season trainers and the battle for supremacy is going to make for some exciting racing with only 14 meetings remaining.

• PETER HO took riding honors Saturday with a winning double, on both occasions handing up perfect rides on two horses there were natural leaders that he wisely sat off the speed on before powering home for good wins on both of them.

In the first of the day the 2 & 3 YO Handicap Ho gave Cheerful Fish the run of the race behind the speedster Wealthy East (Luis Corrales), before finishing right over the top of him to win running away in the 1000 metre event.

It was win number three for the Karaka Online Sales graduate with seven minor placings to boot.

Cheerful Fish has often been set alight to lead at all costs resulting in him mostly being run down just short of the line. Saturdays win proves that a bit of patience goes a long way with the son of Fully Fledged setting a new class record of 56.6 clipping .01 of Magic Missiles old standard set in 2007.

In the Class 1 & 2 over 1200 metres Peter Ho set Yanson alight from barrier eight to cross the field easily in the first one hundred and fifty, only then to surrender the lead to Oh So Easy (Leo Salles) who went very freely up front.

Ho popped Yanson out from behind Oh So Easy at the two hundred mark and he mowed down the leader and had enough left to stave off the late dive by My Club (Andrew Calder) who ran second with Oh So Easy weakening late to run third.

Peter Ho came within a nose of making it a treble but was foiled in the last stride by Luis Corrales in the last on Saturday the Class 2 over 1700 metres.

Ho was home for the tea money on Yang Jiang Star before Corrales came flying down the outside on Basement to snatch victory.

A former Hong Kong apprentice Peter Ho is without doubt one of the finest riders to come out of Asia. A patient thinking rider, Ho has beautiful balance in the saddle and looks part of the horse when he gets to work on one.

Champion jockey Luis Corrales booted home a winning double over the weekend as did Leo Salles.

At the moment the score in the jockeys race is 51 to 44 in favor of Corrales.

However with Leo Salles on the sidelines for two meetings following a suspension Corrales has a great chance to extend his lead as he aims for his fourth straight jockeys’ title.