When Garden Party won at Tauranga early this month his Hong Kong owner Alan Fung said he wanted to be at the races the next time the horse raced.
That presented Cambridge trainer Roger James with a slight problem. He had to arrange the raceday appearance around Fung's appearance at the Cannes Film Festival.
Fung is heavily involved in the Hong Kong movie industry and had two films submitted to Cannes. He flew directly from there to New Zealand.
There are no direct flights from Europe to Te Teko but Fung did not mind the indirect road route to the course caused by the recent floods as he watched Garden Party cruise to an easy win in the Whakatane Cup.
Garden Party had been sent to Hong Kong, but had problems and was returned to New Zealand, essentially to retire.
James was asked to give him one try and the 4-year-old has now won three of his eight starts here.
"It's great when you see an owner coming all the way from Hong Kong and experiencing country racing at its best here at Te Teko," race sponsor Gavin Wealleans said.
"It's a big difference from Sha Tin [Hong Kong] to Te Teko."
Fung said he was just looking forward to seeing Garden Party run and the win was a bonus.
Settled midfield, Garden Party worked off the fence nearing the home turn and despite Crucio opening a good break early in the straight he always looked likely to get up.
<EM>Racing:</EM> Fleeting visit worth it
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