Luke Ferraris celebrated his 24th birthday in style when he continued his strong season with a win aboard Happy Boss at Sha Tin on Saturday.

Sitting third in the jockeys’ championship behind Zac Purton (51 winners) and Hugh Bowman (23), the young South African notched his 18th success of the campaign when he booted Happy Boss home in the Class Four Tai Tan Handicap (1,400m).

The David Eustace-trained gelding improved on his encouraging sixth on debut to prevail from Star Satyr in a thrilling finish.

“It’s good to get one on the board for Dave, it looks like his stable has turned into form now,” Ferraris said.

“He’s a nice horse, it was his second run and he’s a little bit green but got the job done in the end and when he gets out to a mile plus, he will start to improve nicely.”

Ferraris picked up the ride on Happy Boss with Jerry Chau Chun-lok, who rode the son of Toronado on debut, engaged to ride the $5.2 favourite Robot Star who ran a luckless eighth after being held up for clear running.

“There was a bit of bad luck there actually, so I feel for Jerry because he did a lot of work on the horse,” Eustace said after Happy Boss won by a head.

“I think he’ll continue to improve. He’s still quite green, he’s still got some strengthening up to do and he’ll definitely stay 1,600m as well. He was aided by a good ride and a good barrier today, so I don’t know exactly what his ceiling is, but I can see him improving.”

Everest scales new heights

Chris So Wai-yin was quick to praise his patient owners after Mount Everest returned to his best in section two of the Class Four Tai Long Tsui Handicap (1,200m).

A winner on debut back in March, the son of Exceed And Excel ran two more promising races before suffering a bleed that ended his season prematurely.

Well held on seasonal return over the 1,400m trip when drawn wide, a drop back in distance with a much better draw in gate three worked the oracle as he thundered home under Keith Yeung Ming-lun.

The rider punched the air crossing the line, likely a mixture of relief and happiness, as victory was not guaranteed when he was stuck in a pocket screaming for room early in the straight.

The gap finally appeared at the 200m pole and Mount Everest surged home to beat Master Phoenix, who ran a pearler for David Eustace at $48.

“The horse has a lot of ability, in his early stages he already got a win but we had a problem with him bleeding. We knew he was a good horse and the owner always gave us time to look after him,” said So.

“The horse is doing well at 1,200m and Keith did a great job on him. I hope this horse can go up to Class Three now and keep improving. The horse is healthy now and young, not too many starts, so let’s see how he performs up in grade.”

Newnham strikes back

Mark Newnham cut Caspar Fownes’ lead in the trainers’ championship to one win when dirt specialist New Forest made all in the Class Three Tai Long Au Handicap (1,650m).

Fownes hit the front with a double at Happy Valley on Tuesday night but came up empty at Sha Tin, with Newnham keeping his rival in his sights after New Forest’s latest triumph.

Sent to the front by Lyle Hewitson, the Justify gelding kept on well to beat Definitive by a length to rack up his third career success.

“He’s a good beginner, he gets up on the pace and Lyle gave him a really great ride. We came out with a plan to just stay a couple off the fence early until he found his rhythm and then he found the inside, [Hewitson] rated him perfectly in front and the horse was good enough to carry the 135lb,” Newnham said after moving to 26 wins this campaign.

New Forest completed a clean sweep for leaders in Saturday’s three all-weather races after Foremost Teddy and Sight Dreamer made all earlier on the card.

With New Forest’s rating set to surge into the 80s, Newnham will thrust the five-year-old into Class Two company in a 1,650m contest on January 21.

The Australian trainer said another of his dirt specialists, Talents Ambition, is also likely to run in that race.

Bowman’s bleak day

Hugh Bowman copped a one-meeting suspension for careless riding and a pair of fines on Saturday.

The Australian ace will be sidelined from Sha Tin’s January 18 fixture after causing interference to Super Dragon when he rode Turin Champions in yesterday’s opener. He was also fined HK$5,000 for failing to make the weight on Lo Rider and HK$10,000 for a breach of the whip use rules at Happy Valley on Tuesday night.