Ambitious Dragon��s brother Packing Dragon takes Happy Valley Million Challenge for Ricky Yiu

16/02/2017

By Andrew Hawkins

Packing Dragon has long had to settle in the shadow of his older half-brother, retired two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon, but the son of Mastercraftsman seized the chance to create a milestone of his own at Happy Valley tonight (Wednesday, 15 February) as Ricky Yiu’s charge took the Happy Valley Million Challenge in a dramatic concluding night to the series at Hong Kong’s city track.

The Happy Valley Million Challenge rewards horses racing in Group 3, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 races at the circuit between September and February. This season’s series, which began on 7 September, awarded points to the first four placegetters across 71 races – the winner given 15 points, the runner-up six points, the third placegetter four points and the fourth placegetter three points.

Heading into the night, five horses were in contention to win the series, headed by Tony Cruz-trained Happy Spirit on 46 points. Packing Dragon was sitting in fifth with 38 points and needed a victory and other favourable results to secure challenge honours. Both gallopers were engaged in the Class 1 Shan Kwong Handicap (1650m), with the trip short of Packing Dragon’s best – something Yiu noted post-race.

“He really is better over 1650m and further but there was no choice here, this was the only race,” Yiu said after Packing Dragon secured the HK$650,000 Happy Valley Million Challenge winners’ cheque for owner Money Wong with a total of 53 points. “Luckily he was just able to get the win, get the highest points and win the trophy!”

Packing Dragon (115lb) jumped from the outside gate in the 11-horse field and quickly found himself in second under Chad Schofield, who celebrates his 23rd birthday tomorrow (16 February). He moved up to the lead approaching the 400m and stayed on dourly, just finding enough to hold off the late charge of Danny Shum’s Circuit Land (133lb) and score by a head in a time of 1 min 39.22s, the fastest time recorded over the Happy Valley 1650m this season.

“I was a little surprised he got across near the front so quickly but he’s always had to carry big weights,” Yiu said. “Today, he had a light weight and a jockey who knows him and I don’t think it was that bad to draw outside, because it gave Chad the chance to position him where he was comfortable. The fact he was able to come back to 1650m and win shows just how much he has improved throughout this season.”

Yiu admitted that the Happy Valley Million Challenge hadn’t been an early-season goal with the five-year-old grey, but two points-earning wins in 10 days at the city course in October and November made him a natural candidate.

“Normally, he wouldn’t be the type of horse who would target at this series – most of the races are over 1200m or 1650m and those are the horses who you look at,” Yiu said. “But he’s a horse that needs 1800m or 2000m, just like his brother Ambitious Dragon, and when he got those two wins on the board, I thought he could have a chance.”

Yiu bought the seventh foal of Oregon mare Golden Gamble at the 2013 Karaka Premier Yearling Sale in New Zealand, just weeks after his Pins half-brother had won the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m). 

“I loved him at first sight, I bought him as a yearling and he was only NZ$190,000 – about HK$1 million,” the trainer said. “Now he’s won HK$5.5 million plus today’s bonus, so he’s been good for the owners. I know most of the horses that win this series don’t go on with it, but I hope I am the exception – he has kept surprising by the way he has improved, little by little. He’s still only five so there’s more for him I think.”

Happy Spirit (113lb) weakened into 10th, three and three-quarter lengths from Packing Dragon, and while it ended his bid for Happy Valley Million Challenge glory, he still earned the series’ runner-up cheque of HK$250,000.

Caspar Fownes-trained Victory Marvel, who did not race at Happy Valley tonight, remained third and snared HK$100,000 for his connections with 44 points.

Earlier, Fownes was left ruing what could have been as Blocker Dee dead-heated with John Moore’s Sea Jade in the Class 1 Happy Valley Trophy (1200m). Blocker Dee (115lb) entered the night on 33 points in the Happy Valley Million Challenge and a victory would have taken him to 48 points and to the outright lead before the Shan Kwong Handicap.

“It didn’t matter in the end, obviously, as Ricky’s horse won the series, but for a short while I was thinking it could have been a centimetre away from a big payday for the owner,” Fownes said after the last. “My sister Fenella thought I had got there, I thought it was close, but after I watched the shutter-cam finish I knew that we hadn’t lost it. It would have been nice to get it outright but in the end you have to settle for a dead-heat.

“He’s been running well, he’s been honest, hasn’t he? He’s been consistent, and the draw really helped him tonight, with 115 pounds and gate one. So he had to get his chance today. He’s done his job, the owner has had a lot of fun with him and it’s been a thrill for him as his first horse.”

For Sea Jade (115lb), the dead-heat victory under Joao Moreira saw the three-year-old become the first horse to win five races this season.

“He raced away like he was going to win nicely, but he just died on his run late,” Moreira said. “He’s still learning so I think he will be even better a few months from now.”

Moreira rode a treble, with wins on Ocean Roar (130lb) in the opening Class 4 Village Handicap (1000m) and Gracydad (128lb) in the Class 4 Yik Yam Handicap (1200m) taking the Brazilian rider to within five wins of his century for the term.

Other jockeys to star at Happy Valley included Karis Teetan, who added a win in the Class 4 Yuk Sau Handicap (1650m) on Megatron (118lb) to his later shared success on Blocker Dee, and Alexis Badel, who won the Class 3 King Kwong Handicap (1650m) on Unicorn (118lb) before scoring a longshot triumph on Rickfield (121lb) in the Class 3 Sing Woo Handicap (1800m).

Racing returns to Sha Tin on Sunday (19 February), with the second leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m), the feature.

2016/17 Happy Valley Million Challenge Results