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Bubbles out to burst some in Sunday��s Hong Kong Classic Mile

21/01/2016

Trainer Francis Lui is relishing the prospect of Lucky Bubbles taking on the best of his generation in Sunday’s (24 January) HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile, the first in a series of three championship contests for four-year-olds at Sha Tin Racecourse that climaxes with the HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) on 20 March.

Lucky Bubbles is not an obvious Hong Kong Derby prospect. A mile and a quarter in March might prove to be a stretch too far, but the 1600m of Sunday’s Classic Mile holds no fears for Lui even though the Sebring gelding has made his name so far in races across the narrow range of 1200m to 1400m.

“He is an easy horse to control and I think he will handle this distance - I’m not worried about him staying a mile,” said the trainer, whose career high to date remains Hello Pretty’s 2006 HKG2 Hong Kong Derby Trial win.

An Australian import, Lucky Bubbles broke his maiden at his second start - on a heavy track at Wyong, New South Wales. That August 2014 breakthrough was his last race before a move to Hong Kong, and the chestnut has made fine progress since arriving at Sha Tin. A couple of runs in the spring of last year - fifth and second - flagged him as a smart prospect and by June he had a first Hong Kong win on the board, a 1200m Class 3 off a rating of 69.   

Lucky Bubbles’ ascent has continued apace this term. Lui’s charge kicked off the term with a brace of 1200m wins before stepping into Class 1 and stretching out to 1400m for the first time at his most recent start (13 December). Defeat ensued but Lucky Bubbles’ reputation was unsullied as he closed from back in the field with a storming centre-track advance that took him to within three-quarters of a length of the box-seating winner, Sun Jewellery. Lucky Bubbles clocked the race’s fastest final 400m - 21.46 seconds.

Ryan Moore’s mount, Sun Jewellery (gate 14) will re-oppose in Sunday’s set-weights challenge as Hong Kong’s highest-ranked four-year-old with a rating of 110. Another Classic Mile contender with a big reputation, Thewizardofoz (9), is next, rated 105. Third-top is Lucky Bubbles with a rating of 102.

“He’s only a four-year-old, so he still has improvement and he is in good form,” said Lui. “He’s always shown us he is a nice horse. He’s easy to handle, he’s never been a problem, and he’s shown us in his races so far that he has a good chance on Sunday. I think he is a first three chance.”

Brett Prebble has been ever-present for Lucky Bubbles’ six Hong Kong outings and Lui is pleased to once again have the services of the two-time Melbourne champion, one of Hong Kong’s most experienced and successful riders. That experience could be crucial breaking wide from gate 12.

“Brett Prebble knows him well, so we’ll see what we can do from the draw,” said Lui.

The HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile has attracted a field of 14. Also engaged is Ricky Yiu’s highly-regarded Blizzard (3), while trainer John Moore could saddle Werther (2), Consort (11), Dashing Fellow (7) and Basic Trilogy (1). The Me Tsui-trained Divine Boy (13), the Tony Cruz trio of Green Dispatch (10), King Genki (8) and Giovanni Canaletto (6), the Chris So-trained Hero Look (5) and Rickfield (4) from the Tony Millard stable are also in the line-up.

This year’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile is worth a record HK$10 million, up from HK$8 million.

 

 

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