Caspar Fownes, rugged up in puffer jacket and woolly hat to keep out the chill of a Nagoya winter’s daybreak, cast a keen eye Gun Pit’s way as Hong Kong’s dirt track specialist exercised around Chukyo racecourse this morning, Saturday 5 December.
Tomorrow afternoon (6 December) the Dubawi five-year-old will line up against the best dirt runners Japan can muster in the G1 Champions Cup – last year’s victor Hokko Tarumae amongst them. Fownes has every faith in his charge’s ability to compete in such company but the question of whether or not Chukyo’s dirt is the right dirt for Gun Pit will not be answered until after 3.30pm (2.30pm Hong Kong time) on race day.
“My concern is the track – that’s the only concern I have,” said the trainer. “I’ve come with a very open mind. If he handles the track conditions he will run very well.”
Gun Pit is unbeaten in seven starts on Sha Tin’s right-handed dirt track, each time at 1650m and as yet at a level no higher than a Class 1 handicap. The Champions Cup is just what it says on the tin. The race is Japan’s standout dirt race, and it takes place over 1800m on a left-handed track, on a surface that rides deeper than anything Gun Pit has ever before encountered.
“A lot of factors are still unknown to us,” said Fownes. “The surface here is totally different. It’s very heavy out there – you never know, he’s such an adaptable horse and he loves a dirt surface, but is this going to be too much for him to handle? We’re hoping not and we have to come and try it. I have the utmost respect for the Japanese horses – there are a couple of superstars in the race but this is a very good horse.”
Local track work watchers have observed that Gun Pit has been cantering on a right leg lead, rather than a left, around the counter-clockwise turns.
“He’s comfortable on that surface going at the speed he’s been going at in his trackwork, that’s not a problem. He can change lead – we’ve taught him to change in Hong Kong on straightening up. He can do that naturally himself but Danny (Suen) who rides him in all of his work is here riding him and he says he’s good going around left-handed in the mornings,” said Fownes.
Surface and navigation aside, the trainer is also conscious of the potential difficulty of Gun Pit’s gate 14 draw – widest but two in the 16-runner field.
“We’ve been dealt no favours in gate 14 - it’s going to test him, that’s for sure,” said Fownes. “We’ve seen him win from sitting last out the back and we’ve seen him win from just in behind the box seat, sitting fifth or sixth, so we’ll leave that up to Zac (Purton) now and see where we go. Hopefully he’ll jump well and then we can make our own luck in getting some sort of a position to give him the best chance of showing whether he handles this surface.”
Fownes’ mantra regarding Gun Pit’s Champions Cup bid is unwavering: “This is a starting point,” he stresses. “He’s only just coming. I’ll be happy if he runs a good race, even if he doesn’t win, just to show me he’s there – competitive - on this surface because in the next six to eight months he’ll keep improving.”
Owner Eddie Cheng joined Fownes trackside this morning as Gun Pit trotted one lap of the dirt track then went two circuits at a steady canter before walking a circuit after pulling-up. All was routine.
“It was just a quiet bit of work this morning,” said Fownes. “His fitness is good, he ran two and a half weeks ago and he had a good preparation going into his first run in Hong Kong with four barrier trials. I had to get him as fit as I could first-up.”
Gun Pit’s entry into the Champions Cup came with an automatic nomination to the Tokyo Daishoten later this month but with Dubai being the gelding’s target early in 2016, Fownes has no plans to back-up in the second Japan race.
“I’m coming here just for this one race to see how he performs,” he said. “Obviously if he does something incredible tomorrow we’ll sit down and think about the Tokyo Daishoten but at this stage the plan is certainly to come for one race. After this he’ll relax a little bit then fly back to Hong Kong on the 15th December before going to Dubai in January.
“Hong Kong has proven that when we take our good horses to Dubai they are very competitive and this horse has proven that he’s very good – the last three starts he has broken the course record – so we’re definitely aiming at Dubai after this.”
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Photo 1:
Gun Pit canters at Chukyo Racecourse this morning.
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