By David Morgan
Starting berths in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) beckon for Strathmore and Super Jockey after the pair pleased Tony Millard in their respective trials during an informative 13-batch session at Sha Tin this morning, Tuesday, 8 November.
A setback at the end of August has kept Strathmore to the shadows so far this term, the five-year-old having not raced since a classy third behind Chautauqua in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) here last May. But the Fastnet Rock gelding appeared in great heart under Neil Callan for this second trial of the campaign.
Strathmore travelled smartly down the 1000m turf straight in the morning’s first heat, crossing the line second behind Not Listenin’tome in a time of 58.39s.
“I think that’s the best trial he’s ever done because he normally doesn’t trial very well. He’s never really shown us a great deal in his trials so I was pleased with that,” Millard said.
“He had a little bit of a setback that we were a little bit worried about, but it seems, at this stage, that he’s over that and we move forward. If not for that he would have run earlier.”
Strathmore is now likely to line up in the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) on Sunday 20th November, and then, all things being equal, the still maturing bay will attempt to snare the biggest sprint prize in town on 11 December.
“Neil was very happy with him. He said he travelled well and jumped straight into it,” Millard continued. “I think, on that, I will speak to Iain (Bruce - owner) and just check that we go towards the race next week, as long as he comes out of this okay.”
Super Jockey became Hong Kong’s first winner on Korean soil - or sand, to be more precise - when storming away with the KOR G1 Korea Sprint (1200m) at Seoul in September. Millard has given the eight-year-old time to recover from that exertion and this morning he stepped out a fresh horse for his first trial since, in a 1200m all-weather track heat.
“That was a very nice trial,” Millard said after watching the 2015 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m - dirt) runner-up travel on-speed and pass the post eased down at the fore in a time of 1m 10.43s. The Sandtrap gelding will bypass the Jockey Club Sprint and head straight to HKIR day.
“We didn’t ask him too much because he has another five weeks before the Hong Kong Sprint. He’ll have one more trial before then,” he continued. “He has certainly come back well. He was nice and aggressive today and Karis (Teetan) has had to ease him down - we didn’t want him to do too much because we still have those five weeks to go. Both horses, as long as everything goes all right, they’re on track.”
Another on the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint trail - via the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint - is the 2014 victor and fan favourite, Aerovelocity. Zac Purton allowed the eight-year-old to roll along in front, and then eased home without pressure to finish more than six lengths clear of the field in an earlier 1200m all-weather track trial. The time was 1m 10.25s.
“He’s still not at his top,” Purton said. “He’s just struggling to get in there at the moment. He’s got one more run into the Hong Kong Sprint and hopefully that tops him off. He’s a bit older now and it’s just taking him a bit longer to hit his best form.”
In the Strathmore batch, G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) aspirant Rapper Dragon strode out under Joao Moreira. Trainer John Moore’s highly-regarded four-year-old missed his intended first start this season due to a lameness issue and is playing catch-up, with his first-up run expected to come in the G2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile a week on Sunday.
“He missed a run, which is not ideal, but the plus factor here is that he’s very clean-winded,” Moore said after watching the Street Boss gelding pass the post a close fourth in 58.57s.
“He pulled up the best of those that have trialled so far this morning,” he continued. “And he’s got gate speed; over the 1000 metres there and Joao still had him up outside them. That was a smart trial; there were some good Group 1 horses in there, so I’m happy with that.
“He had an off-hind problem from the foot all the way up to the hip, he jarred it up. We x-rayed the foot and there was no fracture or anything, so we just put it down to him being a fresh horse and horses can lash out at times. We just put it down to jarring and there’s no damage.
“There’ll be some doubts on fitness but I’m going into the Jockey Club Mile open-minded.”
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Photo 1:
Strathmore (left) crosses the line second behind Not Listenin��tome in a 1000m turf barrier trial this morning.
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Photo 2:
Super Jockey passes the post first in a dirt barrier trial this morning with Karis Teetan on board.
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