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Heavyweights head to Sha Tin for Champions Mile and Chairman��s Sprint Prize

06/04/2016

International heavyweights Maurice, Chautauqua, Buffering and Mongolian Saturday will head to Sha Tin Racecourse on Sunday, 1 May to challenge Hong Kong’s star milers and crack sprinters in an exciting Group 1 double header.

The HK$14 million Champions Mile is ranked in the world’s top 25 races and is an established international feature, while the HK$10 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize, the fourth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, is a new addition to the elite G1 roster.

Mr. Anthony Kelly, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director, Racing Business and Operations, said: “The Champions Mile and Chairman’s Sprint Prize have attracted sensational fields. Nine of the two races’ 28 selected runners are international Group 1 winners, including super stars of world renown in Maurice, Chautauqua and Aerovelocity, and, in an exciting sub-plot, we have some of Hong Kong’s most prodigious rising stars pitching in to test their mettle against those world heavyweights. The field for the Chairman’s Sprint Prize is particularly exciting given this is its first year at international Group 1 level.

“The Champions Mile is an established spring highlight and brings together a superb group. Variety Club was the first to land a win in the race for the visitors two years ago, and this year’s overseas contingent will offer a potent challenge to the home team. The world is in for a Group 1 double treat at Sha Tin in three and a half weeks’ time.”

Champions Mile

Japan’s outstanding Horse of the Year Maurice will return to the scene of his step-out success in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, in which he defeated Hong Kong’s now sidelined champion, Able Friend. Prior to that first overseas victory, Maurice had swept aside all-comers in Japan’s mile category with an impressive five race unbeaten sequence through 2015 that featured the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) and G1 Mile Championship. 

Only one overseas runner, Variety Club in 2014, has won the Champions Mile since it became an open G1 contest in 2007, and joining the Noriyuki Hori-trained Maurice in this year’s raiding party are the Australian pair, Suavito and Bow Creek, and the UAE’s Safety Check.

Suavito is a top-class mare from the Nigel Blackiston stable with two G1 wins on the board, the most recent being February’s C. F. Orr Stakes (1400m). The former UK racer Bow Creek has notched G2 wins in Britain, Ireland and Australia, the latest being the Peter Young Stakes (1800m) for current handler John O’Shea.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Safety Check, a high-class Godolphin galloper, took the G2 Al Fahidi Fort (1400m) and G2 Zabeel Mile earlier this year, having also landed both contests in 2015.

Hong Kong will look to its pool of talented milers to keep the trophy at home. The John Size-trained Contentment and Richard Gibson’s Giant Treasure have both stepped up this season to prove themselves as high-calibre performers, the former placing a close third to the latter in January’s G1 Stewards’ Cup at the course and distance before scoring his own G1 breakthrough in the following month’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m).

Beauty Only won the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile last season and has a series of smart efforts in G1 company to back him up this term. The Tony Cruz-trained gelding impressed recently when winning the HKG2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) from last season’s Champions Mile runner-up, the re-opposing John Moore-trained Rewarding Hero.

The talented emerging stars Blizzard and Packing Pins, both trained by Ricky Yiu, are also among the 14 high-quality selections, as are Dundonnell, Secret Weapon, Beauty Flame and Hong Kong dirt track specialist Gun Pit.

Chairman’s Sprint Prize

The G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize promises to be one of the highlights of the season at Sha Tin with the three sprinters rated the best in the world on turf, so far this year, all set to lock horns. That lofty trio, comprising Aerovelocity and Not Listenin’tome for Hong Kong and Chautauqua for Australia, is augmented by North American star Mongolian Saturday, Australia’s favourite veteran Buffering, and a strong pack of locally-trained talent that also features Peniaphobia and Gold-Fun.

Chautauqua is an exceptional sprinter with a thrilling racing style. The Michael Hawkes-trained deep-closer flashes home late and fast, as he did in his most recent triumph, in which he unleashed a stunning last-to-first surge to collect the G1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) for the second time. That was his fourth win at the highest level, having also secured this season’s G1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) and the G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m).

Buffering is another star of Australia’s strong sprint division. The Robert Heathcote-trained eight-year-old, a last link to the racing days of the great Black Caviar, notched his seventh G1 win when battling to victory in last month’s G1 Al Quoz Sprint (1000m) at Meydan.

Mongolian Saturday earned his greatest success in October’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (1100m) at Keeneland. He returns to Sha Tin after a creditable effort at the course and distance when fifth behind Peniaphobia in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint. Peniaphobia took that prize with a make-all run under Joao Moreira. The Cruz-trained gelding placed third, a length behind Buffering, in last month’s G1 Al Quoz Sprint.

Aerovelocity was absent from this season’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, but Hong Kong’s reigning Champion Sprinter returned to action with a devastating win in January’s HKG1 Centenary Sprint Cup at the course and distance. Paul O’Sullivan’s stable star went to Japan at the end of March to attempt a second consecutive win in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m), only for a mild bout of colic to prevent the triple G1 winner’s participation.

The Gibson-trained Gold-Fun won last year’s HKG1 edition of the Chairman’s Sprint Prize and the seven-year-old, Hong Kong’s Champion Miler in 2014, will attempt to clinch a first success in the highest grade, having placed second in G1 company on three occasions.

Also among the selections are the horses that many believe will be the next stars of the Hong Kong speed ranks. The Francis Lui-trained Lucky Bubbles earned a first Pattern race win in breath-taking style when taking the HKG2 Sprint Cup at the course and distance on 3 April, ahead of another rising star, the Size-trained Amazing Kids. Size also has last season’s potentially top-class Champion Griffin, Thewizardofoz, among the 14 selected.

The exciting field also includes Super Jockey, runner-up in the 2015 edition of the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m, dirt) at Meydan, Charles The Great, Rad and Strathmore.

Selected Runners

Maurice
Photo 1:
Maurice

Chautauqua
Photo 2:
Chautauqua

Buffering
Photo 3:
Buffering

Mongolian Saturday
Photo 4:
Mongolian Saturday

Aerovelocity
Photo 5:
Aerovelocity

Suavito
Photo 6:
Suavito

Bow Creek
Photo 7:
Bow Creek

Safety Check
Photo 8:
Safety Check

Contentment
Photo 9:
Contentment

Giant Treasure
Photo 10:
Giant Treasure

Peniaphobia
Photo 11:
Peniaphobia

 

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