Gold-Fun will have to overcome the seemingly indomitable force of Able Friend if he is to claim back-to-back wins in Sunday’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, but trainer Richard Gibson is undaunted heading into Sha Tin’s premier 1400m contest. The HK$10 million race has international Group 1 status for the first time this year.
“Gold-Fun is at the top of his game,” said the Englishman. “He ran a fantastic race last time out, he has maintained his peak condition and this is his best trip, so I think he will be tough to beat.”
That fantastic last start win came in the HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize in February, when Gold-Fun dropped down to 1200m for the first time in his life and swept home late and fast under Christophe Soumillon to claim the scalps of a clutch of Hong Kong’s best sprinters.
“Christophe gave him a smashing ride last time. That certainly made the difference,” commented Gibson.
Gold-Fun, last season’s Hong Kong Champion Miler, has faced Able Friend three times this season, all at 1600m. The Le Vie Dei Colori gelding ran second to John Moore’s big chestnut in both the G2 Jockey Club Mile and G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile before a below-par sixth in January’s G1 Stewards’ Cup. Gibson respects Able Friend but does not fear the horse
“Able Friend is a multiple Group 1 winner, he’ll be a tough horse to beat and anyone that does beat him I’ll be clapping them very loudly. I’ve got Gold-Fun in very good shape,” he said.
The past two winners of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup will line up on Sunday as the former two-time Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon will attempt to recapture the form that once made him Hong Kong’s most formidable force.
A long spell on the sidelines due to injury and the unstoppable advance of age may well have dulled his brilliance but the eight-year-old has shown enough in three starts this term to suggest that he can still be in the shake-up.
“He’s good going into Sunday and I’m happy with him,” said trainer Tony Millard. “He’s done his work and Zac (Purton) rode him in a grass gallop a week or so ago.”
Ambitious Dragon clocked 1m 20.1s (28.2, 28.2, 23.7) for that 1200m hit-out and is aiming to improve on a last start fifth in the Stewards’ Cup.
“The last two races he has had he has been jammed down the inside and hasn’t really had a fair go, he has been compromised, so he is due some luck,” said Millard. “But I think Able Friend on Sunday is the surest thing looking through a bridle!”
Millard and Gibson will both be double-handed in the 11-runner contest with the former looking to the smart four-year-old Divine Calling to ruffle his elders and the latter hoping for a good effort from Dundonnell.
“Divine Calling has got to step up now because this is the big league,” said Millard. “I think he is still a developing horse and he is going to get better. Some horses take a while to acclimatise here and, while he has been consistent, I think next season we will be able to exploit him properly. I think it was the right option to miss the Derby and have a go at this race.”
Gibson said: “Dundonnell ran well the other day over 1200m (Chairman’s Sprint Prize), he was maybe even a little unlucky in running. I think he will be better over 1400m, he will like the cut in the ground and it will be great to pick up some prize money.”
The G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, the third and final leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series, also features Irish raider Gordon Lord Byron, a three-time G1 winner at 1200m and 1400m in Europe. Tom Hogan’s charge ran fourth in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, the same position he filled in the previous two editions of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.
Gordon Lord Byron galloped on the Sha Tin turf this morning and covered 1200m in 1m 25.4s (33.5, 29.8, 22.1).
Able Friend worked 800m in 51.9s (27.8, 24.1). Moore also sent out Rewarding Hero who clocked 52.3s (28.1, 24.2) and Secret Sham who galloped the same strip in 53.5s (28.3, 25.2).
The Tony Cruz-trained Beauty Flame was also out on the grass. The five-year-old, second in the Stewards’ Cup last time, worked 800m in 57.4s (30.6, 26.8).
Also in Sunday’s line-up are last season’s G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup (2000m) winner Dan Excel, another from the Moore yard, and the John Size-trained Real Specialist.
|
Photo 1:
Gordon Lord Byron gallops on the Sha Tin turf this morning.
|
