Tough four-year-old Californiatotality landed a late betting plunge when he bounced back from his Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) flop with victory in Sunday’s Class Two Hong Kong Lions Cup (1,800m).

Brown-lamped late in betting from $16 to $6.2, the Tony Cruz-trained gelding notched his fourth win of the season after a fading 11th behind Cap Ferrat in last month’s Derby.

Camped behind a solid speed set by Voyage Samurai, Californiatotality looked in trouble approaching the turn when coming under pressure and failing to respond to Alexis Badel’s urgings.

However, he kept on willingly down the centre of the track to prevail over Steps Ahead and Pray For Mir in a thrilling three-way finish.

“I think it’s the second or third time he’s beaten that horse, Pray For Mir,” Cruz said after Californiatotality relished a light weight of just 116 pounds to win by a short head.

“Today you can see the lightweights are winning. It’s a fast track today. First, second, third, even fourth – it was all the lightweights coming in.

“I think 1,800’s perfect for him – light weight, even better.”

While the strength of this year’s Derby crop has been questioned, the form was given a little boost by Californiatotality, Steps Ahead and Bundle Award, who had excuses when a beaten $2 favourite in the Hong Kong Lions Cup.

Trainer Tony Cruz with Californiatotality after Sunday’s win.Trainer Tony Cruz with Californiatotality after Sunday’s win.

Jockey Zac Purton told stewards he intended to settle Bundle Award in a more prominent position, but the John Size-trained gelding’s slow start forced him back to third last.

The son of Shamus Award was disappointed for clear running between two runners near the 250m and had difficulty obtaining a clear run over the final 150m.

Californiatotality notched his fourth win of the season and sixth overall from 19 starts.

Cruz said the son of Zoustar will not make the leap to Group Three level in next month’s Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2,400m), but he could be a candidate for a late-season feature such as the Group Three Premier Plate (1,800m) in June.

Californiatotality (right) fights out a tight finish with Steps Ahead (centre) and Pray For Mir (inside).Californiatotality (right) fights out a tight finish with Steps Ahead (centre) and Pray For Mir (inside).

Cruz’s likely Queen Mother Memorial Cup runners Winning Dragon, Five G Patch and La City Blanche ran seventh, eighth and last of 11 respectively behind Californiatotality on Sunday.

Elsewhere on Sunday’s card, punters were on the money again when the brown-lamped Moduleconstruction saluted in the Class Three Ngau Tau Kok Handicap (1,200m).

Firming late from $23 to $10, the Francis Lui Kin-wai-trained gelding sat outside of the lead and kept on strongly under Lyle Hewitson to beat Super Infinity by a neck.

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Moduleconstruction has overcome two major injuries – a tendon injury in December 2023 and suspensory ligament injury last September – to return to the winners’ list.

“He’s had bad injuries twice, but his last run [when fourth to Geneva] was impressive and I think today it’s good for the front-runners,” Lui said.

“He likes to go out in front.”

Meanwhile, Cruz was fined HK$15,000 on Sunday for breaching the Trainers’ Handbook Regulation when “during a compliance check conducted in his stable on February 25 he was found in his possession medication that had not been approved by the Club’s Veterinary Departments”.

Stewards also suspended Karis Teetan and James Orman each for one meeting for careless riding.

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