Lyle Hewitson continued his recent resurgence on Wednesday, taking out his third winner of the term with the David Ferraris-trained Methane.

It has been somewhat of a roller-coaster ride for the jockey and the horse early in their first Hong Kong seasons, perhaps best reflected by the incident at the Valley on November 6 when Methane was declared a non-runner despite crossing the line seventh in a Class Four over 1,200m after badly missing the start.

On that occasion – his second run after an eye-catching third on debut at $102 – Methane put his head down in the barriers and Hewitson called out to try and rectify the situation, but the starter pressed the button instead, stewards ultimately deciding the horse was denied a fair start.

The four-year-old was sent out a $4.40 second favourite the following race but he disappointed and Hewitson was replaced by Alexis Badel and subsequently put in the worst run of his campaign.

The South African was back aboard after that, improving with a step up to 1,400m and breaking through at his fifth official start – the Class Four Craigengower Cricket Club Challenge Cup (1,650m).

“The owner [Andrew Shuen Pak-man] was good to me but after I rode him in his second official start – we were pretty upbeat and confident – he ran a touch disappointing and it was no one’s fault,” Hewitson said.

“With the pressures in Hong Kong I lost the ride next time but he just didn’t shape up. I think he was going through a bit of a growing phase so I started doing a lot of work back home again and training him to get some stamina in his legs. His breeding says he’s definitely looking for a trip.

“He’s just started to flourish – the last 10 days, he’s been working extremely well – he was beating the sprinters back home – and we came into the race with a lot of confidence.

“When he hit the front, I had a lot of horse, he’s just a little immature. It’s a good sign, because it means he will get up to Class Three when the penny drops.”

Fellow South African jockey Grant van Niekerk enjoyed a double on the night, guiding home Me Tsui Yu-sak’s duo Good For You and Thunder Stomp.

It was another tough night financially for the Jockey Club as it battles through the fallout of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

With a partial lockout enforced at the two tracks, all off-course betting branches shut alongside a host of “telebet” hotlines, turnover dropped HK$330 million to HK$1.041 billion (US$43 million to US$134 million).

South China Morning Post