Blazing and Bullish, Cruz takes out both cups

08/02/2017

By David Morgan

Tony Cruz was the cup king at Happy Valley tonight, Wednesday, 8 February, saddling up a standout brace that ensured he snared all of the evening’s silverware.

Cruz struck with Blazing Pass in the Class 4 Craigengower Cricket Club Challenge Cup Handicap – Douglas Whyte was the winning pilot in that 2200m stamina test – and followed up in the night’s primary feature, the Volunteers’ Challenge Cup Handicap (1650m) thanks to the 2.6 favourite, Bullish Smart.

Silvestre de Sousa enjoyed a dream run aboard the latter, finding an easy passage to the rail from gate five and then sitting a close second as Kei Chiong and Unique Happiest, posted to the fore of the winner’s outside flank, towed the field along.

“I had the luck with me tonight – to win both the trophy races, it’s a good night’s work,” Cruz said after Bullish Smart had prevailed by a neck in 1m 39.87s. “Silvestre rode the perfect race tonight – he did last time, too, but this time it worked out. We got a nice tow from the horse on his outside.”

It was a sixth win and a third course and distance result at start 39 for Bullish Smart, a German-bred graduate of the Hong Kong International Sale. The 2014 Champion Griffin took his career earnings close to the HK$6 million mark with his cut of tonight’s HK$1.235 million purse. 

“This horse is honest and consistent,” Cruz said. “He’s a healthy horse and when they’re healthy they’ll keep on running for you. That’s six wins now so he keeps doing his job.”

That score came in race seven, an hour after Whyte had delivered Blazing Pass with a cutting deep run to snare the evening’s other cup. The five-year-old Raven’s Pass gelding, a 9.9 chance, charged two lengths clear of runner-up Super Form to clock 2m 16.92s.

“Douglas rode a good race and the horse saw out the distance really well,” Cruz said.   

Gibson’s Powermax

Richard Gibson’s troubles this season are well documented. But the handler has been in decent enough form of late without hitting the jackpot, and deservedly took his season tally to four with Powermax in race four, the Class 4 Sports Road Handicap (1200m).

The four-year-old has now provided the Gibson stable with both of its wins since the turn of the year. Tonight’s success ended a near month-long blank spell for the yard that had seen Gibson collect five placed returns from 25 starters. Powermax, the market third pick at 4.3 for this his fifth career outing, drove past long-time leader Circuit King to take the spoils by three quarters of a length under Neil Callan.

“It’s no big surprise because he’s still an improving horse,” Gibson said. “The first-time cheekpieces probably helped a bit, you saw tonight that he’s still learning his job – I thought he stopped when he hit the front, but with this draw (gate two) he was always going to be tough to beat.

“We put the cheekpieces on because we thought he needed the focus. He’s a horse that does the minimum and Neil’s ridden him very well on both occasions.”

Powermax, a winner off a mark of 57 tonight, will find himself up in Class 3 next start and Callan, too, was of the opinion that the Magnus gelding can find more improvement.

“It was pretty straightforward for him tonight,” he said. “I won on Circuit King before so I know he’s quite a short runner in the straight; I think my horse is still a work in progress because I quickened past him like I was going to win two or three lengths and he just pricked his ears and was pulling up.

“I think he’s still got a bit of improvement in him. He’s a nice young horse – at least he’s willing to do what you want him to do in a race.”

Zac Purton celebrated the birth earlier in the day of his second child by taking the opener, the Class 5 Bowrington Handicap (1650m), atop the aptly-named My Blessing. The Dennis Yip-trained four-year-old returned the 4.1 favourite for his first win at start 11.

Danny Shum was in double form thanks to the Matthew Chadwick-ridden All Together in race two and the Alexis Badel-partnered Our Hero in race six – the latter denied the Cruz stable a treble as he held the de Sousa-ridden I’m A Witness by a battling short-head.

Champion jockey Joao Moreira and champion trainer John Size delivered a win in race three thanks to Arm Runda, while Olivier Doleuze and trainer Caspar Fownes teamed up to take the finale, the Class 3 Wong Nai Chung Handicap (1200m), with Victory Marvel.