Cover Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Voyage Bubble makes history with Hong Kong triple crown
Voyage Bubble (Deep Field) surged into the Hong Kong history books with a stunning win in Sunday’s G1 Champion and Chater Cup over 2400 metres for jockey James McDonald and trainer Ricky Yiu. He became the second horse to win the illustrious triple crown consisting of the G1 Steward’s Cup, G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup, and G1 Champion and Chater Cup in the same season after River Verdon (Ire) (Be My Native {USA}) in the 1993/94 season.
Moments In Time (Chi) (Lookin At Lucky {USA}) and Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai) took on the pace, then Zac Purton pushed past on Ensued (USA) (Lemon Drop Kid {USA}) to string out the field. Meanwhile, travelling well in mid-field, Voyage Bubble swept to the lead with 300 metres to go leaving the field in his wake to win by 3.5 lengths from fast finishing Rubylot (Rubick) and Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat (Snitzel) stuck on for third. Dubai Honour finished in fourth, while Ensued faded to sixth and Moments In Time to last.
“Dreams came true, since I won the first two legs of the Triple Crown I started dreaming. Now today, dreams have come true – it’s amazing,” Yiu told hkjc.com.
“Dreams came true, since I won the first two legs of the Triple Crown I started dreaming. Now today, dreams have come true – it’s amazing.” - Ricky Yiu
“The closer I looked at the race today, the closer I thought he would have a winning chance – he’s done so well and his preparation was so good. He’s pure athletic. If you look at him, you can tell he’s a high-class racehorse. He’s performed up from a sprint to the maximum distance in Hong Kong – he’s a genius.
“When we first ran him over 1200 and 1400 metres it was like a game for him. The whole team is thrilled.”
Voyage Bubble after winning the G1 Champion and Chater Cup | Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
The win was Voyage Bubble’s fifth at the top level, and he also won the Hong Kong Derby as a 4-year-old, taking his record to 11 wins from 26 starts. The HK$10 million bonus for winning the triple crown took his lifetime earnings over HK$107 million (AU$21 million).
“He was in the zone. He was ‘prepped’ up just beautifully by the Yiu stable. So lucky to be riding him and he’s just a brilliant racehorse. He just does everything you ask of him and he’s so willing. He was on song today and he’s just such a star,” McDonald said.
“He (Voyage Bubble) was in the zone. He just does everything you ask of him and he’s so willing. He was on song today and he’s just such a star,” - James McDonald
“He just switches off and allows himself to get the distance so well and I just want to pay credit to the Yiu stable – they’ve done a remarkable job with this horse. It’s a great training effort – a mile to 2400 metres. They’re absolutely incredible. They’ve got a champion racehorse on their hands and he (Voyage Bubble) deserves all the accolades he gets. It’s awesome. I’m very proud of him.”
Ricky Yiu after Voyage Bubble won winning the G1 Champion and Chater Cup | Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Sold by Torryburn Stud to his trainer for $380,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, Voyage Bubble is one of four Group 1 winners for Deep Field, whose final crop of seven foals are rising 2-year-olds.
Voyage Bubble is out of Rahy (USA) mare Raheights who won four races including two in Sydney, and she’s been a wonderful broodmare, producing seven winners from as many foals to race, with Voyage Bubble being the sixth of them. His older half-sister Diddums (Snitzel) won the G3 PJ Bell Stakes and is the dam of recent Listed Woodlands Stakes winner Stardom (Zoustar). Another older half-brother Brettan (Commands) placed in the Listed Qld Tatt's RC Tattersall's Mile. Raheights wasn’t served for four years following Voyage Bubble’s younger brother Seventies Hit (Your Song) but produced a Home Affairs colt in 2024.
Gallery: Images courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Raheights is a half-sister to Listed winners Moulin Lady (Reset) and Bannock (Ire) (Bertolini {USA}), and her second dam produced Horse of the Year in Canada in 2011 and Group 1 winner Never Retreat (USA) (Smart Strike {Can}).
John Size makes it 1600 wins
Legendary trainer John Size added a victory on Sunday with Stellar Express (Fr) (Zoustar), taking his Hong Kong record to 1600 wins, second only behind John Moore’s 1735 training wins in the region. “I’ve taken my time, but finally got there. It’s always nice to get some sort of milestone or number up – that’s the one today,” Size told scmp.com, referring to his previous win being at Happy Valley on May 7.
Size has a record 12 Champion Trainer titles in Hong Kong, and the fast closing David Hayes shortened the gap back to four early on the card with the win of Shamus Storm (Shamus Award) before Size’s win increased the gap again. “I’m hanging on by the skin of my teeth. We’ll just keep trying.”
Jockey Brenton Avdulla rode Stellar Express, pleased to bring up the 1600 for Size. “It’s worked out well because I was a bit upset, thinking I would miss out on riding it for him because John has gone three or four meetings without a winner when I wasn’t riding,” said Avdulla who was serving careless riding suspensions.
“I thought he might have got it when I was off but it’s actually an honour to ride the winner that brings up the 1,600th for John and it’s great that it’s for (owner) Larry Yung, who’s a big supporter. It’s a brilliant result and hopefully we can help John onto another premiership.”
Gallery: Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Stellar Express, who raced as Dariym in France where he won three times, has added two more victories in Hong Kong. He’s out of Shamardal (USA) mare Darinja (Fr) who was a minor winner in France and has produced two winners from four to race. She’s from the family of Cambridge Stud sire Almanzor (Fr).
More accolades for jockeys Purton and Atzeni
Jockey Zac Purton added another treble in the city with wins on David Hayes-trained Shamus Storm, as well as Packing Hermod (Rubick) and 3-year-old gelding Top Dragon (Pierata). He leads the jockey’s premiership with 114 wins from Hugh Bowman on 62.
Top Dragon, trained by Chris So, has won his last two in succession. He was sold by B2B Thoroughbreds at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale for $80,000 to Moffatt Breaking & Pre-Training who on-sold him at the Inglis Ready To Race Sale for $160,000 to Upper Bloodstock and Mick Price Racing.
Andrea Atzeni notched his 50th winner of the season aboard Manfred Man’s Gold Master (The Autumn Sun) to sit third on the table.
Technical issues cause hit to wagering
A technical issue with the comingling database caused two races at Sha Tin to be delayed while punters had to wait up to an hour for a pay-out from race nine. The issue created a significant drop in turnover for the meeting.
“When we looked at the issue, we decided we will not approve any commingling bets in the pool of race nine because we were not 100 per cent sure if all the bets were in the system or not,” HKJC CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges told scmp.com.
“We decided we will not approve any commingling bets in the pool of race nine because we were not 100 per cent sure if all the bets were in the system or not.” - Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges
“It’s very clear there was a connectivity issue and it was intermittent and then we cannot take the risk. So that’s when we decided to zero-out – pay all the overseas bets refunded and keep only the local bets and calculate the local odds, to make sure there is no issue.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges | Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
“Turnover is down a little bit – probably around HK$350 million loss of overseas turnover. This was race nine, 10 and 11, so that had a significant impact on the turnover. The issue is you not only pay back the turnover, it has an impact on the local turnover, too, because the pool size isn’t there and people don’t bet as much. Our team have great confidence this will be resolved for Wednesday.”
Double for broodmare Italics this week
Full brothers 6-year-old gelding To Infinity (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) and 3-year-old gelding Voyage Boss (NZ) gave their dam Italic (GB) (Medicean {GB}) a rare double in Hong Kong this week. To Infinity won on Wednesday at Happy Valley for trainer Jamie Richards, and Voyage Boss won on Sunday at Sha Tin for trainer Frankie Lor.
“I trialled him five times already, but four times were on the dirt and he hated the kickback. That’s why I went to Happy Valley last time and he trialled well, so we took him to Sha Tin,” Lor told scmp.com.
“He’s very straightforward, later on I think he can go a bit further. The jockey said he’s still very green and was really looking around. When you get a good draw, it’s usually much easier for a young horse. We’ll stay at Sha Tin for now – if he goes up about six or seven (points) in the ratings he can still race in Class Four.”
Italic has a 2-year-old colt by Darci Brahma (NZ) and a yearling filly by Hello Youmzain (Fr) still to come through. Both brothers were offered by The Oaks Stud at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale with To Infinity withdrawn in 2020 and Voyage Boss selling in 2023 for NZ$100,000 to Busuttin Racing and Mark Pilkington Management.
Voyage Boss (NZ) winning the Star Handicap | Image courtesy of The Hong Kong Jockey Club
A winner of three races in New Zealand, Italic is also the dam of G3 VRC Schweppervescence Trophy winner Paint The Town (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) and has produced eight winners, seven of them by Darci Brahma. This is the family of Horse of the Year in Hong Kong in 2019/20 and five time Group 1 winner Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}).
