Who would bet against Dan Excel making it a Singapore hat-trick in 2016 as an eight-year-old? Photo: Reuters
They
weren’t quite dad’s army, and as it turns out they might just be
getting started, but there were plenty discounting the chances of Hong
Kong’s five-horse raiding party on account of advancing age heading into
Sunday’s two Group Ones in Singapore.
The success of Hong Kong’s runners – and not just winners Aerovelocity and Dan Excel – was not only an example of world-class training but also how the Jockey Club’s limited race schedule can help preserve an older horse’s career.
Hong Kong has a history of horses that keep on producing when considered past their prime. River Verdon, The Duke, Viva Pataca, Good Ba Ba, Sacred Kingdom, Joy And Fun and recently retired California Memory all won Group Ones at seven or older and plenty more have competed well with retirement age fast approaching.
Of the horses competing in the Lion City on Sunday, KrisFlyer Sprint winner Aerovelocity is the anomaly, the baby of the quintet that took Kranji by storm. He is six, but somehow still seemingly on the way up. And if you look at his travel mates, he might have a long way to go yet.
Quick pop quiz: who is the only other horse to win a race Able Friend was entered in this season? Aerovelocity, in the Group Two Premier Bowl last October.
So is he the 2014-15 Horse of the Year? Or just an incredibly unlucky second to Able Friend?
Paul O’Sullivan still refuses to call his sprinter a superstar, but his record reads like he is and he made history on Sunday as the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win a Group One in three different countries. It’s a feat he has achieved in less than six months.
There’s no shame in finishing second to Able Friend though. Just ask Dan Excel, who climbed out of his stablemate’s giant shadow to make some history of his own with consecutive wins in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
Trainer John Moore and jockey Tommy Berry repeat the feat at Kranji. Photos: Kenneth ChanDan
Excel is seven – not exactly old by racing standards – but like Sunday
night’s runner-up and fellow “Derby of 2012” classmate Military Attack,
there’s some major miles on the odometer. More pertinently, he has
issues and aliments to overcome every time he goes to the races.
Dan Excel underwent throat surgery a little over six months ago to repair an epiglottal entrapment. That’s never a good thing for an animal of any species, but particularly a thoroughbred racehorse which counts on a steady supply of oxygen to the lungs.
To bring Dan Excel back to a level where he could replicate a similar level of performance to last year was truly a great training performance by John Moore.
Moore’s son, George, and senior trackwork rider Thomas Yeung Kai-tong also deserve credit. They travelled with the gelding to Singapore and even though there were plenty of trackwork watchers second-guessing the pair, the proof of their efforts is now in black and white.
Caspar Fownes’ nearly pulled off a win with Military Attack, who has barely been able to trot at various stages this season, struggling with a sore foot.
Count Fownes’ eight-year-old Lucky Nine in that category, too. His problems are well documented, but he ran a bottler and was desperately unlucky not to finish closer, if not win the KrisFlyer.
Is there a trainer who does more with what he has than Fownes?
He trains by look and feel, replying on his instincts, and his obsessive commitment to his horses was on display when he made red-eye flights back and forth between Chek Lap Kok and Changi airports.
He was even caught with his pants down as he was about to make another mad dash from Sha Tin to Singapore. He was getting changed as Domineer streaked, pardon the pun, away to win the final race on Saturday’s programme.
'Young
gun' Aerovelocity (Zac Purton) makes history as the first Hong
Kong-trained horse to win a Group One in three different countries.
Photo: ReutersThe final horse of the group of grandpa
geldings that ran on Sunday is Rich Tapestry. He loomed like he would
challenge and probably ran close to his best on turf.
Trainer Michael Chang Chun-wai is starved of opportunities with the eight-year-old, hence six of the dirt-tracker’s last seven runs have been on foreign racetracks and he has run just 10 times in total in nearly two seasons.
The limited options for a horse like Rich Tapestry are more to do with a liking for a surface more popular elsewhere, but even with other top-rated horses there is no need for a race manager when it comes to “mapping out a programme”.
There are only certain races horses can run in and once a horse is past the madness of a Derby campaign, the schedule of a 110-plus rated galloper is set in stone.
The term “trainer proof” comes to mind because a handler can’t overtax a Group One horse in Hong Kong if he tried, and plenty do, but maybe “owner proof” would be more accurate given some of their unrealistic demands.
Three straight SIA Cups for an eight-year-old Dan Excel in 2016?
Another Hong Kong Sprint, four years after his first, for rising nine-year-old Lucky Nine?
It’s not as crazy as it might sound elsewhere. After all, Aerovelocity is only just getting started at six.
The success of Hong Kong’s runners – and not just winners Aerovelocity and Dan Excel – was not only an example of world-class training but also how the Jockey Club’s limited race schedule can help preserve an older horse’s career.
Hong Kong has a history of horses that keep on producing when considered past their prime. River Verdon, The Duke, Viva Pataca, Good Ba Ba, Sacred Kingdom, Joy And Fun and recently retired California Memory all won Group Ones at seven or older and plenty more have competed well with retirement age fast approaching.
Of the horses competing in the Lion City on Sunday, KrisFlyer Sprint winner Aerovelocity is the anomaly, the baby of the quintet that took Kranji by storm. He is six, but somehow still seemingly on the way up. And if you look at his travel mates, he might have a long way to go yet.
Quick pop quiz: who is the only other horse to win a race Able Friend was entered in this season? Aerovelocity, in the Group Two Premier Bowl last October.
So is he the 2014-15 Horse of the Year? Or just an incredibly unlucky second to Able Friend?
Paul O’Sullivan still refuses to call his sprinter a superstar, but his record reads like he is and he made history on Sunday as the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win a Group One in three different countries. It’s a feat he has achieved in less than six months.
There’s no shame in finishing second to Able Friend though. Just ask Dan Excel, who climbed out of his stablemate’s giant shadow to make some history of his own with consecutive wins in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
Trainer John Moore and jockey Tommy Berry repeat the feat at Kranji. Photos: Kenneth ChanDan
Excel is seven – not exactly old by racing standards – but like Sunday
night’s runner-up and fellow “Derby of 2012” classmate Military Attack,
there’s some major miles on the odometer. More pertinently, he has
issues and aliments to overcome every time he goes to the races.Dan Excel underwent throat surgery a little over six months ago to repair an epiglottal entrapment. That’s never a good thing for an animal of any species, but particularly a thoroughbred racehorse which counts on a steady supply of oxygen to the lungs.
To bring Dan Excel back to a level where he could replicate a similar level of performance to last year was truly a great training performance by John Moore.
Moore’s son, George, and senior trackwork rider Thomas Yeung Kai-tong also deserve credit. They travelled with the gelding to Singapore and even though there were plenty of trackwork watchers second-guessing the pair, the proof of their efforts is now in black and white.
Caspar Fownes’ nearly pulled off a win with Military Attack, who has barely been able to trot at various stages this season, struggling with a sore foot.
Count Fownes’ eight-year-old Lucky Nine in that category, too. His problems are well documented, but he ran a bottler and was desperately unlucky not to finish closer, if not win the KrisFlyer.
Is there a trainer who does more with what he has than Fownes?
He trains by look and feel, replying on his instincts, and his obsessive commitment to his horses was on display when he made red-eye flights back and forth between Chek Lap Kok and Changi airports.
He was even caught with his pants down as he was about to make another mad dash from Sha Tin to Singapore. He was getting changed as Domineer streaked, pardon the pun, away to win the final race on Saturday’s programme.
'Young
gun' Aerovelocity (Zac Purton) makes history as the first Hong
Kong-trained horse to win a Group One in three different countries.
Photo: ReutersThe final horse of the group of grandpa
geldings that ran on Sunday is Rich Tapestry. He loomed like he would
challenge and probably ran close to his best on turf.Trainer Michael Chang Chun-wai is starved of opportunities with the eight-year-old, hence six of the dirt-tracker’s last seven runs have been on foreign racetracks and he has run just 10 times in total in nearly two seasons.
The limited options for a horse like Rich Tapestry are more to do with a liking for a surface more popular elsewhere, but even with other top-rated horses there is no need for a race manager when it comes to “mapping out a programme”.
There are only certain races horses can run in and once a horse is past the madness of a Derby campaign, the schedule of a 110-plus rated galloper is set in stone.
The term “trainer proof” comes to mind because a handler can’t overtax a Group One horse in Hong Kong if he tried, and plenty do, but maybe “owner proof” would be more accurate given some of their unrealistic demands.
Three straight SIA Cups for an eight-year-old Dan Excel in 2016?
Another Hong Kong Sprint, four years after his first, for rising nine-year-old Lucky Nine?
It’s not as crazy as it might sound elsewhere. After all, Aerovelocity is only just getting started at six.
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