Two more careless riding bans coming up won’t do anything for Chad Schofield’s momentum but the young Australian rider is at least building some solid relationships with his results and nailed his fourth win for Dennis Yip Chor-hong with a perfect display on Lightning And Gold.

Twice a winner in Class Five this term, Lightning And Gold found himself well placed in a moderate Class Four yesterday to win his fourth race over the Sha Tin 1,600m course but Schofield was looking to the future with the trainer more than the six-year-old gelding.

“Dennis has been great to me, he’s given me quite a few opportunities so I’m really pleased to be able to repay that confidence,” Schofield said after a half-length win that had nothing to spare. “The horse is very honest, he tries very hard. Lightning And Gold is probably a little better than Class Five but in Class Four he needs everything to go his way for him to win and today it did - he had the pace on, a lovely run in the right spot and then he was gutsy at the finish when Team Sweet came at him late.”

Yip almost had to be hosed down in the aftermath of the scrambling victory, the third for the gelding this season and over and above any expectation from the stable.

“If you had told me at the start of the season this horse would win three, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Yip said. “One win would have been good, two great but a third is really a bonus. I think now he’s going to be at his mark in the handicap.”

Schofield’s own season has suffered with multiple suspensions costing him momentum but still sits on 23 wins and hoping to top thirty for the term but that aspiration is going to be tempered in coming weeks by two separate bans. He rides Wednesday then is out until Audemars Piguet QE II Cup day then has two more meetings on the sidelines.