WITH only six weeks of the season remaining, the race for the trainers’ championship title is starting to hot up after the results at Sha Tin last Sunday.

A double for the Caspar Fownes yard has given the former four-time champion trainer a two-win buffer over his rivals, and with the stable continuing to churn out the winners he is going to prove difficult to pass.

Fownes just needs one more winner to equal the record he set back in the 2009/10 season of training 40 winners at the city track. It’s no wonder he is called the King of the Valley.

With the likes of Family Fortune in the Mount Butler Handicap (11.40am) over the extended mile, Captain Link in division one of the six-furlong Wong Nai Chung Gap Handicap (12.40pm) and The Heir in division two of the same race at 2.10pm all in with good chances, there’s reason to expect plenty of celebrations.

Trainer Mark Newnham bounced back to form with a double at Sha Tin over the weekend, after a couple of quiet weeks, and is currently only three wins behind Fownes.

The stable will be looking to LOVING VIBES to keep the pressure on the championship leader when he takes his chance in the six-furlong Cricket Club Valley Stakes Handicap (1.40pm).

The five-year-old has been hindered by a series of double-figure draws since joining the Newnham yard back in February, but he ran encouragingly on his last start and has drawn the favoured inside gate one, which suggests he is ready to strike.

With stable companion Armor Golden Eagle a leading fancy in the nine-furlong Tai Tam Gap Handicap (3.15pm), Newnham will still hold out high hopes of winning his first trainers’ title.

POINTERS

Loving Vibes               1.40pm            Happy Valley