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The win completed a double for Cruz, who had scored earlier in the afternoon with progressive Flying Spur gelding Electronics Spur.

It was also the third leg of a treble for Coetzee, who handled both the Cruz winners as well as Class Five victor Main Attraction.

Happee Owner is raced by property magnate Robert Ng Chee-siong, and carries the colours that have been worn by the family's horses on major Asian racecourses for more than 20 years.

Ng's father, Ng Teng-fong, is still one of Singapore's top racehorse owners through his Lucky Stable entity.

Robert Ng's most important winner in Hong Kong was Daliapour.

'This horse is a Group One winner in New Zealand, so you'd like to think he'd be able to win at Class Two level in Hong Kong,' said Cruz. 'This horse came to me when David Hayes returned to Australia at the end of last season and I must thank Mr Ng for giving me the opportunity to train this horse for him.

'Today was 1,400m and he's won the race very nicely. The race worked out pretty much as we anticipated, and he was right there all the way. I'm not sure he particularly likes the softer ground we had here today, but I rather think that he'd be even better on faster tracks,' Cruz added.

Happee Owner won three of his six starts in New Zealand where he was known as Ambitious Owner. His last two runs there were a half length second in the 2,000 Guineas at Riccarton and a narrow victory in the Bayer Classic at Otaki - both Group One races at set weights for three-year-olds.

'Today was Class Two, next time we'll get to see if he can win in Class One. So it's really up to the horse. It's no good me just saying he'll run in these big races, the horse has to earn his way into them.'

Coetzee took a similar middle-of-the-road approach to Happee Owner's future prospects. 'Today was a good win, there was a lot to like about it,' he said.

'He showed good speed, we worked to away from the rail in the straight, just like Tony and I had planned, and he kept going to win nicely.

'Yes, it was a good win, but I don't want to be wrapping the horse too big, too soon. I'd prefer to wait until he really earns his praise.'

Coetzee and Cruz both spoke positively about Electronics Spur, who was having only his second run for the yard - and his first this season - in winning the Class Three over 1,400m (race five).

'That was a very strong win, and he's going to be even better at 1,600 or even 1,800m,' Cruz said.

'His form in Melbourne made him look a promising sort of horse and he's already won there at 1,720m. So to show that speed today, and wear down Master Spirit at 1,400m on softer ground was a good effort.'

Coetzee was still on cloud nine after handling champion Silent Witness to a strong win in a 1,200m barrier trial on the all-weather track at Sha Tin on Friday morning.

'You know, it could not have worked out better for him,' he said. 'He was so relaxed that he was five or six lengths behind the leader at the half way point. 'But he picked them up so easily at the 200m. I'd have liked him to keep racing all the way to the line but he knew he'd done enough and started to switch off - that's just him, he knows when the job is completed.'

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