Golden Sixty's jockey lands the Leopard Stakes on improving son of Maurice

Kafuji Octagon notched his first Japanese Graded stakes victory on Sunday, with Hong Kong hero Golden Sixty's rider Vincent Ho in the saddle.

The pair combined to win the nine-furlong dirt Group 3 for three-year-olds, the Leopard Stakes, at Niigata racecourse.

A son of Maurice out of the winning Mejiro Bailey mare Mejiro Marian, the Yoshito Yahagi-trained colt was winning for the fourth time on his eighth career start.

He passed favourite Taisei Drefong, who had gone to the front at the top of the home straight, to win by a neck, with the fast-finishing-on-the-far-outside second favourite Hapi another neck back in third.

Ho is best known as the regular rider of Hong Kong superstar Golden Sixty, who has won six Group 1s in Hong Kong, and is known in Japan as the jockey who won Hong Kong's QEII Cup with Japanese legend Loves Only You in 2021.

He started with a JRA short term licence on July 30 and plans to ride until August 28. He had got his first winner in Japan on the board and Sunday was his second.

Ho said: "I said that I didn't like the dirt race last week, but my second winner was in the dirt Graded stakes - so I like the dirt!

"I'd like to say thank you to the Yahagi stable staffs for having the horse in excellent condition. I would like to honour the Yahagi stable. I thought he was a little big when I rode him in his training, but today his legs were light and he changed his front legs well in the race, so it was like a different horse.

"After the good break, I tried not to lose any ground, and followed the favourite Taisei Drefong, who settled just front of me.

"In the straight, I was very excited to compare myself with the top jockey [Yuga] Kawada."

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