Trainer Cheng Han Yong has confirmed Fortune Tree will head towards the Group 1 Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (2,000m) after an effortless victory from the two-time Group 1 winner at Sungai Besi on Oct 25.

From barrier 2, the son of Ardrossan jumped and led briefly in the RM50,000 (S$15,600) Supreme A contest (1,400m) before the pair of Impossible Target (Fikri Ismail) and Filial Dragon (Lim Shung Uai) crossed from the outside to take over.

Shafiq Rizuan – who was on board Fortune Tree at his last-start win in the second leg of the Malaysian Triple Crown series, the Group 1 Selangor Gold Cup (1,600m) on Sept 27 – stalked the two leaders while staying on the outside of Banker’s Happy (Johari Kamaruddin), who sat third on the fence.

Once the field of 11 turned for home, it was apparent Fortune Tree ($6) had plenty underneath. Once the five-year-old New Zealand-bred was set alight on the outside by Shafiq, he dashed clear to score by 3½ lengths from the Simon Dunderdale-trained Aquitaine (Wong Chin Chuen), who came from behind to finish second.

Veteran and former Group 1 Singapore Gold Cup (2,000m) winner Big Hearted (Jerlyn Seow Poh Hui) held on well in third. Fortune Tree’s stablemate Trident Rising (Harmeet Singh Gill), who won two-from-two, finished fifth in his third start.

The winning time was 1min 21.62sec for the 1,400m on the long course on a yielding track.

Fortune Tree had also won the Group 1 Tunku Gold Cup (1,200m) – first leg of the Triple Crown – on March 29 when under the care of Richard Lim.

After his seventh and only win over 1,600m last time, Cheng was still unsure if Fortune Tree could stay the 2,000m trip in the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor on Dec 6.

But the young Malaysian handler has now decided to roll the rice with the Lee Swee Eng-owned gelding, in his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner in Malaysia since the series’ inception in 2003.

“He’s not bred for the staying races, but he’s proven himself when he won the Selangor Gold Cup, so we’re going to give him the challenge,” said Cheng.

“We wanted to run him in a 1,600m race today, but it was cancelled as there were not enough entries.

“But 1,400m wasn’t a problem either and we thought he’d win it easy today.

“He should take a break before his final target in the Piala Emas, but I’ll decide if I run him in another lead-up race again.

“My staff have done a good job with the horses, so big thanks to the team.”

Cheng also bagged a treble when two other maidens opened their accounts on the Oct 25 meeting. Ye Man ($31) claimed the Class 3 race (1,100m) under Shafiq, while Swift Victory ($21) won the Open Maiden event (1,500m) with apprentice Lim Weng Hooi.

A day earlier, another five-year-old from Cheng’s yard, Fortune Rising ($8), also landed the highlight RM55,000 Class 1 sprint (1,200m) when ridden by Shafiq at Sungai Besi.

Narrowly beaten by the Tiang Kim Choi-trained Banker’s First in the Listed Charity Cup (1,200m) in Ipoh on Sept 20, Fortune Rising turned the tables on the former this time.

The son of Alabama Express, who enjoyed a 3kg advantage on weights, settled in fourth before gradually drawing clear at the 250m.

He went on to win by 1¼ lengths from Banker’s First (Johari), who made ground late. Vincent’s Star (Mohamed Lukman) finished well in third.

Cheng said he will raise the bar for the five-time winner.

“I plan to run him in the Cup races some day,” he said.

“He is by a very good sire (Alabama Express, owned by Yulong Investments). I will try to bring in more horses by this sire to Malaysia.”

Yulong Investments presented Fortune Rising at the 2023 Gold Coast Yearling Sale, where he was knocked down to top Australian trainer Gai Waterhouse for A$220,000 (S$198,000) and named Shangri La Express.

He was brilliant as a two-year-old in Sydney, winning his first two starts at Randwick and Rosehill and was placed in his subsequent two runs, including a third in the 2024 Group 2 Todman Stakes (1,200m).

That earned him a crack at the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1,200m) but he finished down the field.

After failing to show up at his next six races, Fortune Rising was sold at an online sale for A$105,000 before arriving in Kuala Lumpur in October 2025.