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| Sumita Pawar |
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Ryan Moore is set to attempt a consecutive victory in the Group One Longines Hong Kong Sprint aboard Wellington. This comes six months after he was defeated by the impressive speedster at Royal Ascot, leaving him with a bloodied nose.
Wellington, a four-time Group One winner under former trainer Richard Gibson, has now come under the care of New Zealander Jamie Richards. On Sunday, Richards confirmed that jockey Ryan Moore will be taking the ride on 10th December. Despite his recent fall in Japan, Moore is expected to be fit to take the mount.
Moore Partners Wellington Again For Hong Kong International Races
This will be Moore's fourth ride aboard Wellington, as he partnered with the superstar to win last year's Hong Kong Sprint and finish third in March's Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup. However, Wellington and Moore had a difficult time during June's Group One Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, with Wellington banging his head in the gates and throwing his head back on beginning, which resulted in smashing Moore's nose. Wellington is now heading to the Hong Kong International Races on the back of his first-up third under Alexis Badel in the recent Group Two Jockey Club Sprint.
Though Badel has been in the saddle for eight of Wellington's 12 career wins, including three at the elite level, this will be the fifth time he has been replaced aboard the galloper. With Moore's Wellington booking, the question now arises as to who will partner Aidan O'Brien's Aesop's Fables in the Sprint, as Moore has been in the saddle for 11 of the 3YOs 12 starts, or whether the giant Ballydoyle operation plans on bringing the speedster to Hong Kong at all.
The decision on whether to have Golden Sixty's final pre-HKIR trial over 1,200m on the dirt or 1,600m on the turf is yet to be made, according to trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai. Although the Jockey Club has arranged an extra 1,600m turf hit-out for the international day runners, Lui is unsure if he will take advantage of it prior to the horse's return to racing after a hiatus since April.
“Tomorrow, I will discuss it with Vincent [Ho Chak-yiu] and see what distance we will put him over – the two choices are all-weather 1,200m or 1,600m grass. We will see,” Lui said, confirming his superstar is “improving all the time, just like I planned” ahead of his bid to win a third Group One Hong Kong Mile.
After securing a victory in the Class Three Chevalier Cold Storage & Logistics Handicap, Lui, the handler of Chancheng Glory, spoke with the Post. Lui expressed his optimism about the horse's continued progression, considering it has now achieved three consecutive wins.
“He improves every time he runs, and especially when he races with blinkers. The jockey [Lyle Hewitson] said a longer distance may be better for him. Hopefully, he’s a [Classic Series] prospect,” Lui said after moving to 16 victories for the campaign and maintaining his hold on third spot in the trainers’ title race.
Despite the buzz around second-season trainer Pierre Ng Pang-chi, Douglas Whyte has been making a strong start to the season with 15 wins, placing him fourth in the premiership. Whyte's success has continued into November with eight wins, including Apex Top's victory in the Class Five Chevalier Insurance Handicap and Mister Dapper's win in the Class Four Chevalier Aluminium Engineering Handicap on Sunday.
“He’s done a great job,” Whyte said after Mister Dapper broke through at start three.
“He’s only had two runs. He’d been unlucky in both of his first two runs, but in hindsight, having those two runs under his belt has given him a good grounding, and today it made the difference.
“He’s done a good job, he’s going to go further in future, and he’s a nice horse going forward.”
Karis Teetan had a successful afternoon with the win of Mister Dapper, which helped him surpass the injured Hugh Bowman and secure second place in the jockeys' premiership with 21 wins.
“He’s much better on the dirt. The jockey said that he really kicked inside the final furlong. He loves the dirt,” Chang said of Smokey Bear. “We’ll keep running on the dirt, and hopefully, we can keep the owners happy.”
Smokey Bear, who was previously under the care of David Hall and Jimmy Ting Koon-ho, had his third start for Chang and was ridden by Keagan de Melo. He travelled in the box seat and finished too strong for the leader, Packing Bole, who was the US$2.6 favourite. Packing Bole managed to hang on for second, two lengths behind Smokey Bear.
The third and second elects, Self Improvement and Adefill respectively, finished next across the line. This win was Chang's fifth out of 22 of the campaign's 88 meetings, while De Melo achieved seven successes in a quarter of the way through his maiden Hong Kong campaign.