Written by Bryan Littlely
Cover image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Stronger by name and strongest on the day, Douglas Whyte wins his first Hong Kong Group 1 at Sha Tin's Centenary Sprint Cup.
Stronger (Not A Single Doubt) proved strongest in the Centenary Sprint Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday to give trainer Douglas Whyte his first Group 1 win. And a hard-fought slog to the line between two chestnuts filling first and second delivered some small vindication for Sky Field (Deep Field) as a genuine Group 1 horse.
And while Vincent Ho got the chocolates on the long shot, it was the end of a long string of wins for super star Golden Sixty (Medaglia D'Oro {USA}) when running second to another long shot in Waikuku (Harbour Watch {Ire}) brilliantly ridden to victory in the Stewards Cup by Zac Purton. It ended a 16-straight run of wins for Golden Sixty, inflicting only his second loss in 20 starts.
In the Centenary Sprint Cup, Stronger dropped out the back from the jump, along with Sky Field who missed the start by 0.5l, while Computer Patch (Exceed and Excel) and Courier Wonder (NZ) (Sacred Falls {NZ}) took up the lead, the undefeated Master Eight (Oamaru Force) finding himself caught wide with no cover.
Stronger and Sky Field made their runs together on the outside, letting down together to leave only the question which would have its nose in front at the post. Sky Field, winner of its first Group 1 at last month’s Hong Kong Sprint which was marred by a devastating four-horse fall, just unable to close the gap with Blake Shinn on board.
“Stronger, if it’s on his day, he is always there. The pace was on today and it just worked out beautifully for us,’’ Ho said.
“It’s not easy to stay on a horse all the time. He’s such a good fighter. When horses come close to him he wants to fight more.’’
Sky Field's talent check
Taking nothing away from Stronger, the battle to the line was a good sign that Sky Field is in the right company after questions were raised, even by Shinn, about his win in the Hong Kong Sprint.
Shinn and Sky Field’s trainer Caspar Fownes, like all racing fans, hoped for an incident-free race, not just for the safety of riders and horses, but to prove Sky Field as one of the hottest sprinters in Hong Kong.
Sky Field | Image courtesy of the Hong Kong Jockey Club
Shinn said after that race which resulted in the euthanised deaths of Amazing Star (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}), the horse that first fell bringing down three others, and the David Hayes-trained Naboo Attack (Warhead) he had mixed emotions about his first Hong Kong Group 1 win in a race where four horses and four of his jockey colleagues had faced such devastation.
“What’s happened today, it’s a real bitter-sweet win and in a way, it’s a hard win to take in the circumstances,’’ Shinn said after the Hong Kong Sprint.
“All credit to Caspar Fownes, he’s given me the opportunity to ride this lovely animal over the previous season and this season. We’ve always had faith in him but on the big stage things haven’t always gone this way. Today, he performed to his best today and still beat a handy horse in chasing down a top-line horse in Courier Wonder, and the Japanese horse (Resistencia). He’s a great horse and hopefully he can keep going forward.’’
Blake Shinn
Final standings
Wellington (All Too Hard) was one runner who was badly hampered in that fall and was a favoured chance going into Sunday’s Centenary Sprint Cup. This time he and jockey Alex Badel got themselves held up in the run and finished fourth.
Star Hong Kong jockey Zac Purton overcame fractured ribs, a fractured wrist and broken nose suffered in that horror fall when his horse Lucky Patch (NZ) (El Roca) came down and teamed with the oldest horse in the race, and last year’s winner, Hot King Prawn (Denman) for third on Sunday, also getting held up in the run but finishing strongly.
The undefeated status of Master Eight (Oamaru Force) came to an abrupt end, finishing towards the tail of the field after being worked over in the running.
