Rule Britannia as Royal Ascot form comes into Derby calculations

19/02/2017

By Andrew Hawkins

Most attention from a BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) standpoint was on Sunday’s (19 February) second leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), but either side of Rapper Dragon’s imperious victory, Royal Ascot form came to the fore as Limitless and Booming Delight put themselves into contention for next month’s feature with victories of their own.

Peter Ho-trained Limitless raced as Defrocked when trained in England by Jamie Osborne and won the three-year-old restricted Britannia Handicap down the straight mile at Royal Ascot last June. That day, a number of future Hong Kong gallopers were behind him, including Classic Cup fifth California Whip (third) and Booming Delight (sixth).

And Ho was waxing lyrical about the son of Lope De Vega’s Derby prospects after a rails-hugging success in the Class 2 South Wall Handicap (1400m) under Silvestre de Sousa at just his second Hong Kong start, having finished 11th in a mile Class 3 handicap at his local debut.

“As long as he is selected, he will run in the Derby,” Ho confirmed post-race. “I have no doubts about his quality, 100 per cent he is good enough. He already beat John Moore’s horse in the Britannia (Booming Delight), and I think he will be a horse that will get 2000m easily.

“The reason I kept him at 1400m today was because he’s not quite there yet. He pulled badly at his first start, and he still is not quite there in his mind. I told Silvestre, ‘don’t put him in the race too early, because if you put him in too early, he will be finished.’ That’s why he jumped quick but then pulled him back, and you can see it worked well – look at how he finished! He’s finished like a rocket, he’s just different class.”

Finish he did, recording a clear race-fastest last 400m of 22.27s to surge away for a two-length victory over Almond Lee’s Keen Venture in a time of 1m 21.69s. Race favourite Who Dat Singa boxed on for third under Joao Moreira.

De Sousa may be unavailable for the Derby ride, though, with the Brazilian likely to partner barnstorming Classic Cup runner-up Pakistan Star for Tony Cruz. Ho, however, already has a jockey in mind for the ride.

“I think it’s very important to have a jockey aboard who knows him, or who can ride him in the lead-up to the race,” Ho said. “He’s the kind of horse that is going to need a lot of gallops between now and then to get him very fit so that he relaxes better. That was why I ran him in a barrier trial on Tuesday ahead of this race, it seemed to help. Brett Prebble rode him in one of his early trials and I think he would be the right type of rider to help him relax on the big day.”

Earlier, John Moore-trained Booming Delight proved his Derby credentials with a game head victory over Danny Shum’s Happilababy in the Class 2 Lung Kong Handicap (2000m) in a time of 2m 02.34s.

Booming Delight has had a more thorough racing preparation than Limitless since both arrived on a shipment from England in early September, and he has now won his last three starts after beginning his Hong Kong career with two placings.

However, the big query remained the Fastnet Rock gelding’s ability to see out the 2000m of the Derby, a question that rider Sam Clipperton felt was answered emphatically with his Class 2 win over the course and distance, despite ending up further back than he wanted after missing the start.

“I always thought he would enjoy the 2000m and I think today he showed it, he ran right through the line,” Clipperton said. “I wasn’t worried after he missed the start but I did feel like I was further back than I wanted to be. Then I got to the front a bit too early – I didn’t think he was going to put them away like he did, they went fast early but they really steadied so I thought a couple of others would sprint well and I didn’t want to be giving them too much start, but he went past them so easily. They did get to him again but he was just idling and waiting for them, once the job is done he does what he has to do.”
The young Australian jockey made comparisons to Moore’s Victory Magic, beaten by a short head in the same 2000m Class 2 handicap last year before an agonising head defeat to stablemate Werther in the Derby.

“Obviously, I didn’t ride Victory Magic but they look similar horses,” Clipperton said. “They are underrated, they aren’t the most brilliant of horses but they are very honest. Hopefully Booming Delight can run a similar sort of race in the Derby to what Victory Magic did.”

Moore indicated that Booming Delight was likely to head to the Derby without another run, while he was also positive about the performance of G1 Grand Prix de Paris (2400m) winner Helene Charisma, who was beaten three-quarters of a length in fifth after searching for inside runs under Douglas Whyte.

“It was a solid effort,” the trainer said. “The horse looks like he needs a mile and a half, but I’m pleased with that heading towards the Derby.”

The BMW Hong Kong Derby will be run on 19 March.