LONGINES Hong Kong International Races Wednesday (09/12) track notes

09/12/2015

LONGINES Hong Kong Cup

A SHIN HIKARI (JPN)
Cantered for a lap on the all-weather. Schooled at the parade ring.
Trainer Masanori Sakaguchi said: “I flew into Hong Kong yesterday and saw him for the first time here.  He has settled in well and seemed to have no issues walking around the parade ring. He is eating up well. Jockey Yutaka Take will ride him in a gallop on turf tomorrow.”

FREE EAGLE (IRE)
Routine canter on the AWT.
It was more of the same for the Dermot Weld-trained Free Eagle as the four-year-old High Chaparral colt continued his preparations for Sunday’s HK Cup with a gentle canter on the AWT. Free Eagle will stand at the Irish National Stud next season.
Travelling head lad Patrick O’Brien said: “He’s put back on the five kilos he lost travelling over here and his weight is spot on. He’s eating and drinking well, which is what you want to see. It is still the plan that Pat (Smullen) will have a sit on him on Friday, and his trainer will be in town by then. I hope he can end his career on a high.”

GAILO CHOP (FR)
Galloped 1200m on turf in 1m 15.3s (25.0, 26.8, 23.5)
Trainer Antoine de Watrigant said: “His skin is in good condition and his weight is right. He worked well today but he needed it and had a good blow afterwards. He is a horse who tends to pull himself up when he’s done enough so I told Steve Haes to push him out. We’ll now have to see how he has come out of that workout.”

NUOVO RECORD (JPN)
Cantered for a lap and 400m over turf course. Schooled at the paddock ring.
The work rider Kazuyoshi Aita commented: “The track was not as wet as we expected with this rain.  She was not shying in the parade ring.  She is full of energy and we will gallop her on turf tomorrow.”

SATONO ALADDIN (JPN)
Cantered for a lap on turf.
Work rider Mitsuharu Morisawa said: “He is full of beans.  He moved nicely on the turf and seemed to cope with the surface. He is eating up and is settling in well. He will gallop on turf tomorrow.”

STAPHANOS (JPN)
Galloped on the turf course under jockey Keita Tosaki in 52.8s (30.3, 22.5). Paddock schooled.
Jockey Keita Tosaki commented: “We had a nice gallop on turf this morning.  I had an impression that the grass surface seems to be something between the Japanese turf and a Bermuda grass type of turf.  He handled the surface well and moved nicely.  There is no concern about him.”

Kazuo Fujiwara, the assistant to trainer Hideaki Fujiwara, said: “We worked him to give him strength and loosen him up in his gallop, and to let him grab the surface to get a feel of the turf, so a fast time was not our concern today. I am very happy with his condition.  He is looking well.”

LONGINES Hong Kong Mile

DANON PLATINA (JPN)
Cantered for a lap on turf course. Schooled at the parade ring.
Work rider Toshio Fujii said: “He worked on turf for the first time here but settled in well. He was a bit tense yesterday but seemed to be more relaxed this morning.  He walked around the parade ring nicely this morning and will gallop on turf tomorrow.”

FIERO (JPN)
Galloped on the turf under his exercise rider Hitoshi Ogino in 51.8s (29.7, 22.1). Schooled in the paddock ring.
Kazuo Fujiwara, assistant trainer to Hideaki Fujiwara, commented: “This is his second time in Hong Kong, so he has settled in well and is relaxed compared to last time he came here.  He has had only four starts this season but everything has gone as planned for this coming Sunday.  This year’s Hong Kong Mile has a strong field to beat, but he has maintained good condition and he is ready to compete well. Today we gave him a breeze on turf and it was just to get a feel of the track.”

MAURICE (JPN)
Cantered easily on the all-weather track
Masanori Watanabe, the assistant to trainer Noriyuki Hori, said: “Actually he has not settled into his new surroundings yet, so we tried to relax him during his canter.  We will work him on turf tomorrow so he can familiarise himself with the track. He will gallop on Friday.”

MONDIALISTE (GB)
Cantered one lap around the Sha Tin all-weather track.
Assistant trainer Fearghal Davis said: “Steady away, one lap today. To be fair, he seems to be thriving with travel. He feels as good as ever. He’s freshening up well and eating and drinking well, so he’s doing everything right. He won at York at nearly a mile and a furlong (Strensall Stakes G3), so he can get farther I suppose, but he's doing so well at the mile. He has a serious turn of foot. Even the Breeders' Cup, wow, when Danny (rider Tudhope) had got him out, he was gone. The winner (Julien Leparoux on Tepin) was lucky, he got away, got the first run. If our lad had got out, I think our lad would have got him. He had the race won and was coming to get him and our lad was the only one coming up the stretch that was making any influence.”

RED DUBAWI (GER)
Worked over 800m, on the turf, in 55.7s (33.4, 22.3)
Trainer Erika Mader, whose previous HKIR runner, Faberge, was 13th to Sunline in the 2000 Hong Kong Mile, said: “All is fine with him, he’s eating and drinking well and he had a good gallop this morning - running home strongly his last 400 metres. He was keen to run. We are happy with him but we would like some more rain and the ground to be much softer than it is.”

Raceday jockey Andreas Suborics, who was aboard this morning, said: “He feels good. He’s travelled well and his work was as good this morning as you would hope for.”

TOORMORE (GB)
Stretched his legs in a 1600m canter on the turf under work rider David Thomas.
Travelling head lad Tony Gorman said: “He’s great, super. He’s putting back on the weight that he lost on the journey and it’s all systems go. The boss (Richard Hannon) will be here tomorrow.”

LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint

MIKKI ISLE (JPN)
Put in an easy canter on the all-weather. Schooled at the parade ring.
Work rider Yusuke Hirai commented: “He is looking well and his appetite is increasing, which means he is in good form. He was relaxed and did not have any concern in the paddock ring.  He will breeze on turf tomorrow.”

RICH TAPESTRY (HK)
Trainer Michael Chang said of his 2014 G1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (1200m, dirt) winner: “He’s been training well and everything is normal. I scoped him last Saturday and all was fine. His preparation is good and he will have his final gallop tomorrow. He’ll go on the turf so I hope the rain will continue. With a little bit of cut in the ground I think he can pick up stake money. He’s a competitive horse on the turf. Gold-Fun looks to be the one to beat – the rest, there’s not a lot between them.”

SAKURA GOSPEL (JPN)
Worked for a lap and 400m on turf. Walked in the parade ring.
Assistant trainer Isao Futaguchi said: “I worked him on turf to get the feel of the surface and it seems ok to me, but he was shying a bit.  He looks well.  It was good for him to get acquainted with the turf course before he breezes tomorrow.”

SOLE POWER (IRE)
Cantered and then light gallop two laps around the Sha Tin all-weather track.
Trainer Ed Lynam said: “He just lapped around the track a couple times today and he'll probably do something similar tomorrow. We will just give him a feel of the grass on Friday. Hopefully it’s not too loose or too slippery if this rain blows away.

“He’s been here three times but hasn’t enjoyed the track yet. Each time, the jockeys who have ridden him have said he didn't handle going right as well as they had hoped, that he was a little intimidated and ran a little bit in snatches. Hopefully the fourth time will be lucky.

“It's no secret he's a specialist 1000 metre horse. His five Group 1 victories are all at 1000 metres, but he was second in this race and he ran a good race in the July Cup (1200m) mid-season and with a horse like him, he’s full of himself and training well, and when you get the opportunity to run in a race like the Hong Kong Sprint, you’re always glad to take it. He’ll enjoy the going and the pace of the race but he’ll need a career best 1200 metre run in order to win it.

“He keeps surprising people. It took him a while to win the Al Quoz Sprint (G1) and it was a Hong Kong horse he beat there. This horse keeps turning up and we’re delighted to have him here. Age has actually helped this horse. Mentally he was a difficult horse when he was younger, hence we gelded him. He only learned properly how to race as a four-year-old. I’d love to tell you it’s been some great training by me, but I really think the horse has just gotten better with age. People sometimes question if he’s as good as he was but at the age of eight, he’s won a Group One and a Group Two this year so he’s still punching at a big rate. 

“It’s set in stone. If all goes well he’ll go to Dubai, have a trial on Super Saturday, where he'll probably get beaten, and hopefully do well in the Al Quoz, then Newmarket for the Palace House (G3), then Ascot for that little race that he’s won twice, the King’s Stand (G1).”

STRAIGHT GIRL (JPN)
Worked easily on the all-weather track and then paddock schooled.
Assistant trainer Kazuo Fujiwara commented: “She worked on turf yesterday, so this morning she took things easy on the all-weather this. Jockey Keita Tosaki will give her a gallop on turf tomorrow.  She looks well.”

LONGINES Hong Kong Vase

CANNOCK CHASE (GB)
Cantered 1000m on the turf under Gary Corney.
Travelling head lad James Savage said: “He’s in good shape. As good as he was in Canada (when he won the G1 Canadian International at Woodbine). This is only his second trip abroad but he’s a sensible horse.”

CIRRUS DES AIGLES (FR)
Cantered on the all-weather under work rider Zoe Gargouland.
Trainer Corine Barande-Barbe said of her seven-time G1 winning moneyspinner: “I only arrived a few hours ago and it’s great to see my horse. He knows this place so well and I can honestly say that I think he’s as good as ever. He certainly looks it but we just don’t want him to pull too hard.”

DARIYAN (FR)
Cantered on the AWT and then galloped on the turf course going 1200m in 1m 21.9s (26.6, 28.8, 26.5)
Trainer Alain de Royer Dupre was at Sha Tin for the first time this week to see Dariyan going through his paces, warming up on the AWT, before having a regular gallop on the turf course. Afterwards he said “The horse seems to be in good form, and he is looking well. Whether he is good enough I don’t know, but we’ll find out on Sunday. His run behind New Bay at Deauville in August was a good effort, and we gave him time after that. He’s developed and matured since then, and this will be good experience for him. He’ll be a nice four-year-old next year.”

FLINTSHIRE (FR)
Cantered on the AWT going 400m in 31.3s
Flintshire repeated his exercise routine of previous days under regular work rider Annelie Ackerman. He continues to look well and relaxed ahead of Sunday’s assignment when he will attempt to win back to back runnings of the Hong Kong Vase.

HIGHLAND REEL (IRE)
Galloped on the turf track going 800m in 56.2s (30.2, 26.0)
Watched by travelling head lad Pat Keating, the Aidan O’Brien trainee went out for the first time on the Sha Tin Turf track under regular rider David Hannigan.
Hannigan said: “All good. He’s a happy horse.”

MING DYNASTY (FR)
Worked the Sha Tin turf course and covered final 400m in 30.2s. Looking well, he cantered once around before breaking off into a very easy breeze, well in control the entire way.
Trainer Mikel Delzangles said: “Everything has gone well with the horse's travel out here and it was important to find out how he took to travelling. I'm happy with the horse but this will be competitive. It will be good experience and he will be a nice four-year-old, maybe for Dubai next year.”