Ferraris, Delpech on the board! from Murray Bell 15 September 2003

David Ferraris, four times champion trainer of South Africa, turned the clock back more than a decade at Sha Tin yesterday, reliving the excitement and feeling of the day he trained his very first winner.   Ferraris, 39, who beat an elite field of top-quality trainers from all over the world to become Hong Kong's newest expatriate trainer, took time to absorb the enormity of the occasion after Justinian took the sixth race under the guidance of Anton Marcus.   Two races earlier, South Africa's reigning champion jockey, Anthony Delpech, 34, had also laid what he hopes will be the foundation for the rest of his career, riding the first winner of his three month stint as a club jockey.   The career records of Ferraris and Delpech, recognised champions from a great racing nation, underline exactly how competitive the Hong Kong scene has become in the modern era.   "I've trained over 1,000 winners and this feels like my first," the quietly-spoken Ferraris said after the mandatory victory photo with Justinian.   "It's a good one to get out of the way. The horse went really well at his first run here and without a lot of luck. I thought he had come on well from that race and I thought Anton gave him a gem of a ride."   Marcus may not have rated his ride quite as highly as the trainer, but he was always going to have difficulties having drawn barrier 12 in a field of 14 at the 1,400 metre start.   The in-form rider attempted to go forward mid-race and possibly take up the running, but the leaders quickened, leaving him posted three wide with no cover for the entire length of the circle.   "The beauty of it was that Anton didn't panic. He didn't press on when he realised he couldn't lead and had the horse balanced at all times," Ferraris added.   Justinian, an Australian-bred son of the late champion sire Danehill, was formerly prepared by Peter Chapple-Hyam, who resigned his Hong Kong licence late last year to return to England, where he has just agreed to take over a yard at Newmarket.   The four-year-old had scoreed at one of his eight appearances for Chapple-Hyam, and under the Ferraris tutelage has now improved his scoreline to two from 10.   Delpech, whose 1998 tally of 358 winners still stands as an all-time South African record, has been dreaming and planning for his move to Hong Kong for a long time.   He gained his breakthrough at his fourth Hong Kong meeting on board the front-running Fantastic Horse, trained by Andy Leung Ting-wah.   "I can't tell you how much this will mean to him, because Hong Kong has been his dream for over four years," his wife, Candice, explained later.   The man himself was still over the moon at the end of the day, sporting a wide winner's smile and soaking up the atmosphere that accompanied the latest milestone of his stellar career.   "I had suggested to the trainer after his last run that 1,600 metres would be more suitable for the horse," Delpech explained. "He went to the front and got away with some easy sectionals mid race, which left him with plenty of gas for the run home. He's actually run away from them again in the straight."   Delpech had come very close to opening his Hong Kong account at Sha Tin last weekend, when a close second on the Caspar Fownes-trained Deep Purple, beaten in the last few bounds by fellow South African Robbie Fradd.   Both Ferraris and Delpech agree that the standard of competition in Hong Kong is very high, and they are equally adamant there's nowhere else they'd rather be.   Ferraris and wife Pam have sold everything they own at home. Their commitment to making a success of Hong Kong racing is unequivocal and there will be no turning back. "It's not a matter of hoping it will work, we've got to make Hong Kong work," the trainer said.   Like all newcomers to the HK riding ranks, Delpech is on more delicate ground. His initial contract expires at the conclusion of the international meeting on December 14 but he naturally hopes he'll have made a big enough impression by then for the renewal to be automatic.   Both the wins of Delpech and Ferraris were in Class 4 company. But even at that relatively lowly level on the Hong Kong class scale, the gross prizemoney for the race is $570,000, making the attraction of HK racing to the internationals blindingly obvious.