1/10/2013
Gold for Gibson in National Day Cup
Gold-Fun (124lbs) delighted a National Day crowd of 34,011 with a classy victory in the HKG3 National Day Cup (Handicap) today, Tuesday, 1 October. The turn-out at Hong Kong’s racecourses represented a 5.7 percent increase on 2012, while the day’s turnover was HK$1.29 billion.
The impressive manner of the four-year-old’s success in the 1400m contest augurs well for the future ambitions of trainer Richard Gibson, who is planning to pitch his charge against Hong Kong’s best in the lead-up to a potential tilt at the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile in December.
“Gold-Fun has run a great first race of the year,” said Gibson of last season’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile winner. “He’s got bigger and stronger in the off-season and I thought today was his most impressive run. It was a very impressive performance – the horse’s turn-of-foot was exceptional.
“We always thought this horse would be better in his second year and now we’re going to target the big races over a mile leading into the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, if selected. He’ll go for the race on the 27th of this month (HKG2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy over 1600m), and we’ll see how he fares against the best in Hong Kong.”
Olivier Doleuze settled Gold-Fun mid-pack in the day’s feature race as Penglai Xianzi towed along the field of 14. Turning for home, the Frenchman switched his mount to the outside and a shake of the reins saw the Le Vie Dei Colori gelding close ominously on the capitulating leader. A slight cock of the head 300m out was only a brief concern as Doleuze gathered his mount and elicited an electric response that took the pair to a length and three quarters victory in a time of 1m 20.73s.
The Tony Cruz-trained Blazing Speed (113lbs) stayed on well under apprentice Dicky Lui to claim second in a head-bob from the gallant top-weight Helene Spirit (133lbs), ridden by Andreas Suborics. A short-head separated the pair.
Meanwhile, Gibson’s HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby hero Akeed Mofeed (129lbs) failed to live up to his billing. The Dubawi colt ran home a disappointing ninth under Douglas Whyte.
“I need to have a proper look at the video but my first impression is that Akeed Mofeed was disappointing,” said Gibson. “His options are very limited and we’ll go longer with the horse. We’ll check him out and see that he’s alright after that race and the intention is to run him in the mile race on the 27th.”
