His name suggests he is not much fun to train but Frankie Lor Fu-chuen says his classy three-year-old Frustrated is quite the opposite.
The Australian-bred import is a last-start winner and comes back to a happy hunting ground in Happy Valley on Wednesday night in the Class Four Indian Recreation Club Challenge Cup (1,000m) as he looks to score back-to-back wins.
The young galloper had been a stand-out trial horse before his debut last month, but struggled on race day in his first two performances at the city track after being dealt wide barriers.
However, he put it all together two weeks ago after drawing barrier two and utilising the seven-pound claim from apprentice jockey Victor Wong Chun, dashing clear to win comfortably.
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For his win, he will be forced to carry an extra 13 pounds on Wednesday night thanks to a nine-point ratings bump.
A tidy ride by Victor Wong sees the 3yo Frustrated break his maiden at start 3 and lifts the apprentice to 30 for the season. #HKracing #HappyWednesday pic.twitter.com/drXeGipbpj
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) March 13, 2019
He has the advantage of barrier one though, which will allow Wong to roll forward on the speedy type.
“He has got a good draw so I hope [he can win], that makes it quite easy for the boy [Wong] so he should be OK,” Lor said.
“At this moment I will just keep him at 1,000m but I think in the future he will get to 1,200m no problems at all.”
Pressed on the curious naming of the horse, Lor said the owners elected to carry the name over from Australia, where he was unraced.
“I asked the owner and he said he was also called that in Australia so it didn’t change when he came over here,” he said.
While he is just one of many with a strange racing name in Hong Kong, Frustrated has above average ability and joins the likes of Lor’s Fat Turtle as a young Happy Valley winner this season.
“Before when he was getting bad barriers he was frustrating but after he won it was all OK,” Lor said with his trademark laugh.
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Frustrated will line up against other well performed horses Everbrave, Mr Right, Travel Datuk, Lightning Steed and General Iron in the race.
Winners at Happy Valley have been few and far between for Lor in his short career.
While the second-season trainer has raced to 88 Sha Tin winners including two Group Ones and a clean sweep of the recent four-year-old series, he has managed just 18 winners at the city track in the same time.