Gold-Fun displayed both his class and his quirks in an emphatic G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) success at Sha Tin Racecourse this afternoon, Saturday 21 November.
The six-year-old was the form standout. This time last year the talented chestnut was mixing it with Able Friend, running second to Hong Kong’s crack miler in the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile and then filling the same berth next start in the 2014 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.
Now, with last season’s HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize already in the bag, the Richard Gibson trainee is establishing his reputation in the speed ranks. Gold-Fun heads into the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races on 13 December as Hong Kong’s number one contender for the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) after this afternoon’s comfortable length and a quarter win under Christophe Soumillon.
“He won by a good margin and Richard said he was unfit today, so I reckon he will be better next time,” said the Belgian ace.
Soumillon had Gold-Fun mid-rank in the 11-runner field as Peniaphobia and Super Jockey took each other on for the lead. Turning in, Gold-Fun edged out, and, seeing daylight at the 300m mark, made a race-winning advance that took him past third-placed Not Listenin’tome and runner-up Peniaphobia to lead 150m out. The winner often has his own way of doing things, and, throughout that drive to the wire, Soumillon used all of his skills to keep the gelding focused on the task at hand.
“You can see he was stopping a bit, looking around and hanging right, so I had to try to get him to concentrate at the end,” he said of the Le Vie Dei Colori gelding.
“He didn’t jump fast in the first two strides and then I was trying to get a better position in the beginning but the outside horses went quite fast, so I didn’t have the choice to wait in fourth or fifth position. Then on the turn I was going quite freely and this horse is quite funny, you cannot take the lead too early on him, so it was not easy when I saw the horses in front were five or six lengths ahead of me. I did not want to let them run away so I had to come out and he gave me a very good turn-of-foot. I hit the front too early.
“Today the track is riding a bit funny, there are not many horses coming from the back. It’s a good effort today and I’m very happy with him. It’s a good sign for three weeks’ time.”
Gibson said: “It’s a team effort. Huge credit to the vets here, this horse had surgery last season and it’s a huge credit to get the horse back on track. We were very happy with his first run this year and we knew he would improve on it. It was a masterful ride from Christophe.
“We left as much on Gold-Fun as we could, that weight on him was intentional - we tried to keep as much on him as possible and the big objective is in three weeks’ time.”
Lucky Nine, the 2011 Hong Kong Sprint winner and twice Hong Kong’s Champion Sprinter ran on to finish fourth, a length and a quarter behind the winner. Super Jockey, meanwhile, faded out to finish more than six lengths 10th.
|
Photo 1:
Photo 1, 2, 3: Richard Gibson-trained Gold-Fun (No 1), ridden by Christophe Soumillon, wins the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint (1200m turf) at Sha Tin racecourse today.
|
Photo 2
|
|
Photo 3
|
Photo 4:
Jubilant connections of Gold-Fun celebrate their victory after the race.
|
|
Photo 5:
Photo 5, 6, 7: At the trophy presentation ceremony, Club Steward Dr Eric Li presents the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint trophy and silver dishes to Pan Sutong, owner of race winner Gold-Fun, trainer Richard Gibson and jockey Christophe Soumillon.
|
Photo 6
|
|
Photo 7
|
Photo 8:
Ng Leung Sing, Chairman of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Trustees Limited, presents a souvenir to winning owner��s representative of Gold-Fun.
|
|
Photo 9:
Mrs Ann Kung Yeung Yun Chi, Deputy Chief Executive, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a silver dish to winning trainer Richard Gibson.
|
Photo 10:
Barry Lo, General Manager, Channel Management, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited and Chow Chak Chee, Deputy General Manager, Personal Banking & Product Management, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, present a silver dish to winning jockey Christophe Soumillon.
|
|
Photo 11:
HKJC Chairman Dr Simon Ip, HKJC Stewards, Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, top executives of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Trustees Limited and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, and the winning connections of race winner Gold-Fun, smile for cameras in the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint trophy presentation ceremony.
|
Photo 12:
Club Chairman Dr Simon Ip, top executives of the HKJC, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Trustees Limited and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, and Gold-Fun��s owner Pan Sutong, toast for success after the race.
|
|
Photo 13:
The winning connections smile for cameras after the race.
|
Photo 14:
Before the race, Joanne Lam Man Yi, Deputy General Manager, Personal Banking and Product Management, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, presents a prize of HK$2,000 at the parade ring to the stables assistant responsible for Not Listenin��tome, the best turned out horse in the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint.
|
