Luck's A Fortune

It was an impressive debut performance by Fortune Patch at Wyong on Thursday, the four-year-old working across from a wide gate to sit outside the leader enroute to a soft 1 1/4 length victory.

Always travelling well for Christian Reith, the bay looked the winner a long way out though did want to look about a bit over the final stages.

"He is a very well educated horse who did everything right," Reith reported.

"He was just a little bit green once he hit the front."

"He is a horse with a lot of upside," he continued, "and they should have a lot of fun with him."

The first Australian runner for Hong Kong based owner Mr K M Yeung, Fortune Patch has been well regarded by the stable with our Sydney foreman Robbie Hewetson saying that he had been confident going into the race.

"He trialled really well and he has always shown a lot at home."

"It is great to win this race for Mr Yeung with his first runner for us and we have another three very nice horses of his in the Sydney stable."

Fortune Patch boasts an interesting pedigree with international flavour, his sire being the local stakes winning sprinter Not A Single Doubt whilst his dam is the American bred Hampton Rover who has also produced the stakes placed South African galloper Indaba My Children.

Served last spring by Americain, Hampton Rover is by Miswaki out of the Australian Horse Of The Year Research who spent time at stud in Australia and the US.

This is a family that has been producing high class gallopers for generations, its ancestress being Entreaty, dam of the legendary Phar Lap.