from RACING POSTwww.racing.scmp.comChampion jockey Douglas Whyte didn't ride a winner at Happy Valley last night but it still took a countback to see Gerald Mosse end the Durban Demon's four-meeting run in the Jockey Challenge. Mosse rode a double on the Tony Cruz-trained Value Choice in the opening event and Caspar Fownes-trained Flying Supreme in the seventh, with the latter's narrow defeat of Whyte on Absolute Hedge the turning point of the Challenge.On an evening with some bizarre race tempo

from RACING POST

www.racing.scmp.com

Champion jockey Douglas Whyte didn't ride a winner at Happy Valley last night but it still took a countback to see Gerald Mosse end the Durban Demon's four-meeting run in the Jockey Challenge. Mosse rode a double on the Tony Cruz-trained Value Choice in the opening event and Caspar Fownes-trained Flying Supreme in the seventh, with the latter's narrow defeat of Whyte on Absolute Hedge the turning point of the Challenge.

On an evening with some bizarre race tempos, Mosse led early on Flying Supreme, handed up the lead to Whyte midrace then came to his outside to just outsprint Absolute Hedge and win by a short head.

"Gerald hasn't entirely stuck to the plan - I had hoped he wouldn't relinquish the fence when he got the lead - but he's got the result and all's well that ends well," said Fownes, who has won four of eight runs with Flying Supreme.

"I didn't mind if we led tonight and something wanted to press him a bit because he's shown he can do it at both ends of a race and is very tough. Flying Supreme's won six out of 15 now and that's more than $5 million in prize money. He's only small and I don't know if there's another win left in him but I reckon he's done his job."

Mosse's first victory on Class Five galloper Value Choice was the first leg of a winning double for trainer Cruz, who added Splendid Champion (Matthew Chadwick) later and moved into clear second on the table with 27 wins, one behind John Moore. Value Choice had run his first race for the new stable when caught wide at Sha Tin last Saturday and was caught off the track again last night but kept going to get the result.

"Barrier 14 on Saturday killed him at Sha Tin and he came in to six tonight," Cruz explained. "He still got kept wide on the track but he was very fit tonight and I think he's better than this class anyway."

Splendid Champion was able to get away with some of the slowest early sectionals of the season before he scrambled home in the Class Four 1,650m.

"I think he's pretty limited," said Cruz. "He couldn't have had things any easier in the lead tonight and that's why he won but he still didn't win by far."