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Aerovelocity leads home Hong Kong one-two in LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint

14/12/2014

Aerovelocity made just about every yard of the running to land the HK$18.5 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) under a confident ride from Zac Purton for trainer Paul O’Sullivan. He was chased home by the three-year-old Peniaphobia under Douglas Whyte, but the Tony Cruz-trained rising star in the Hong Kong sprinting ranks could not reel in the wire to wire winner.

The tale of the race was a simple one. Purton broke Aerovelocity alertly from gate seven and took an early lead from the Australian hope, Buffering, who was never able to get to the lead as had been anticipated ahead of the race. Meanwhile Whyte had a good position on Peniaphobia in third, just behind the two leaders. Hong Kong’s other main hope, Lucky Nine, the winner of the race in 2011 raced handy early on but never looked comfortable in the race and faded out of contention to finish 11th.

Purton controlled the race from the front, setting early fractions of 23.36s and 22.31, before setting sail for home and completing the final 400 metres in 22.90s, stopping the clock in 1m 08.57s. Douglas Whyte chased him hard all the way down the stretch, but was a neck adrift at the line.

Afterwards a delighted Zac Purton said: “At the furlong marker he wanted to hang in and get up on the fence, which is a trait of his, but he wanted to do it more so today than he had done previously, so I was a bit worried that he was going to take the fence on, rather than go forward. I managed to keep him off it enough and keep him going forward. It was a tough effort.

“It wasn’t the plan to go and lead,” he went on, “but when you jump that well and the opportunity is there, you have to take it. I have led on him previously and he can be ridden like that, so I wasn’t worried about it. It took him about a year to settle in here, and as you can see he can be a bit of a head case. Once he started to enjoy it, his racing began to improve.”

Trainer Paul O’Sullivan said: “He got a nice run, he got left alone in front, it was a good ride on a good horse. It has been a long time since the last big one, so hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for the next one. You get one good horse and it can turn it all around.”

Douglas Whyte was full of praise for the runner-up: “He ran a terrific race and we have no excuse once again. It was still a great performance from my horse.”

Japan’s Straight Girl ran a tremendous race from gate 13 to get up for third having raced in mid-division, while Gordon Lord Byron ran on for a another fourth place finish, having twice finished in the same spot in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile in 2012 and 2013.

Photo1,  Photo 2,  Photo 3,  Photo 4,<br>
Aerovelocity (No.9) under Zac Purton defeats Peniaphobia (No. 8) in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (Group 1-1200M) in a determined manner.
Photo 1:
Photo1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4,
Aerovelocity (No.9) under Zac Purton defeats Peniaphobia (No. 8) in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (Group 1-1200M) in a determined manner.


Photo 2


Photo 3


Photo 4

Photo5,  Photo 6,  Photo 7,  Photo 8,<br>
Aerovelocity��s happy jockey Zac Purton, trainer Paul O��Sullivan and representatives of the owner Lord Horse Club celebrate their success after taking the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 5:
Photo5, Photo 6, Photo 7, Photo 8,
Aerovelocity��s happy jockey Zac Purton, trainer Paul O��Sullivan and representatives of the owner Lord Horse Club celebrate their success after taking the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.


Photo 6


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Photo 8

Anthony W K Chow (right), Deputy Chariman of the HKJC, presents the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint trophy to Daniel Yeung Ngai, owner of Aerovelocity.
Photo 9:
Anthony W K Chow (right), Deputy Chariman of the HKJC, presents the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint trophy to Daniel Yeung Ngai, owner of Aerovelocity.

Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to the owner representative of Aerovelocity.
Photo 10:
Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to the owner representative of Aerovelocity.

Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to Paul O��Sullivan, trainer of Aerovelocity.
Photo 11:
Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to Paul O��Sullivan, trainer of Aerovelocity.

Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to Zac Purton, jockey of Aerovelocity.
Photo 12:
Ms Florence Hui Hiu-fai (right), Under Secretary for Home Affairs of the Hong Kong Administrative Region, presents a bronze statuette of a horse and jockey to Zac Purton, jockey of Aerovelocity.

Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to the owner representative of Aerovelocity.
Photo 13:
Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to the owner representative of Aerovelocity.

Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to Paul O��Sullivan, trainer of Aerovelocity.
Photo 14:
Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to Paul O��Sullivan, trainer of Aerovelocity.

Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to Zac Purton, jockey of Aerovelocity.
Photo 15:
Mr Kevin Rollenhagen (right), Managing Director of The Swatch Group (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a souvenir to Zac Purton, jockey of Aerovelocity.

All smile to camera at the presentation ceremony of the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 16:
All smile to camera at the presentation ceremony of the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.

Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (second from left), Chief Executive Officer of the HKJC, presents a trophy of final leg of the 2014 Global Sprint Challenge to Daniel Yeung Ngai, owner of the winning horse in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 17:
Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges (second from left), Chief Executive Officer of the HKJC, presents a trophy of final leg of the 2014 Global Sprint Challenge to Daniel Yeung Ngai, owner of the winning horse in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.

Happy connections share their happiness with media for the success of Aerovelocity in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 18:
Happy connections share their happiness with media for the success of Aerovelocity in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.

Toasting for the very success of the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 19:
Toasting for the very success of the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.

Mr Brian Kavanagh (right), Vice-Chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (Europe) presents a prize of HK$5,000 to the groom responsible for Golden Harvest, the Best Turned Out Horse in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.
Photo 20:
Mr Brian Kavanagh (right), Vice-Chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (Europe) presents a prize of HK$5,000 to the groom responsible for Golden Harvest, the Best Turned Out Horse in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint.

 

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