Amazing Kids will attempt to strike a blow for the rising stars in Sunday’s (22 May) HKG3 Sha Tin Vase (Handicap), the exciting speed feature on the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup undercard.
Fellow four-year-old Lucky Bubbles confirmed the long held impression that Hong Kong’s young sprinters are a force to be reckoned with when ensuring Australia’s speed hero Chautauqua had to pull out the stops to win the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize over Sha Tin’s 1200m last start. Amazing Kids was also in that world-class line-up and left the impression that finishing two and a half lengths fifth was a rum return after an unlucky passage.
“His run was sound, he had no luck approaching the turn or in the straight but he finished off, at some point he ran pretty quickly up the straight, like a good horse that should have finished closer,” said trainer John Size.
“If he came wide and had every chance we don’t really know what would have happened, whether he would have kept going to the line or whether he would have tired the last 100 metres, we’ll never know.”
With the promise of that 1 May run fresh in the mind, Amazing Kids, a four-time course and distance winner from 11 Hong Kong starts, heads into the weekend’s handicap with something to prove.
“On Sunday he gets an opportunity to show us what he’s got,” said Size. “It’s a handicap so it’s a completely different set of circumstances and he’s got to carry a bit of weight so it will be interesting to see how he handles that.”
Amazing Kids will shoulder 126lb, 7lb less than the John Moore-trained top-weight Not Listenin’tome (133lb). Size is hopeful that the talented bay has recovered from his latest exertions and was content with the Falkirk gelding’s 800m stretch out on Thursday morning, clocked at 58.8s (33.2, 25.6).
“I thought he had a reasonably tough run (in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize), even though he wasn’t fully tested in the middle of the race. When he came home he showed me that he’d had a strong race and the first week he was pretty quiet. I’m hoping three weeks will be enough for him to get his energy back. His work on Thursday morning was good enough, it was normal, so if he produces on race day he’ll probably run well.”
Also in the line-up is the Tony Cruz-trained Peniaphobia (130lb), winner of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint at the course and distance in December; old-timer Charles The Great (115lb) and the smart pair of Domineer (123lb) and Born In China (113lb) are also in the field; while three more emerging four-year-olds, each with feather weights, add further spice - Blizzard (113lb), Fabulous One (113lb) and Divine Boy (113lb).
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Photo 1:
Amazing Kids wins the Class Two Heung Yee Kuk 90th Anniversary Cup over 1200m earlier this season.
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