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A half-length covered the first six home in a thunderous finish to the HKG3 Hong Kong Macau Trophy (Handicap, 1400m) at Sha Tin this afternoon, Sunday, 8 March.
It was the Joao Moreira-ridden Arpinati (119lb) who had his head in front where it mattered.
The Lucky Story four-year-old had appeared to be in trouble at the top of the stretch, his progress checked as last year’s winner Super Lifeline barred an outward manoeuvre. With Moreira’s mount shoved back behind the tiring front rank of Macanese raiders, the Brazilian switched to the inside and Arpinati surged through a propitious opening to lead with 100m remaining. The John Moore-trainee held on by a short-head as the closing pack threatened to swamp him.
“I wasn’t able to push out the horse on my outside when we straightened up for the run, and when I made contact with him he just put me back behind those horses,” said Moreira. “My horse still went there to win the race and he put a lot of heart into it, he put up a really good fight. It was a really nice win in a race that had four or five horses fighting for it – there wasn’t much difference between them and it was great to win.”
The victory was Moreira’s seventh Group race success this season in Hong Kong and yet another feature race in his ever-growing haul. Arpinati scored in a time of 1m 21.62s, defeating Pikachu (115lb) by a short-head with the fast-finishing Gurus Dream (122lb) the same distance back in third; Super Lifeline (128lb) and Multivictory (113lb) dead-heated for fourth.
For Moore, the win was a welcome success, being Arpinati’s first in Hong Kong and the first this term for one of his stable’s most prominent patrons, Siu Pak Kwan.
“Mr Siu is one of my stable’s most loyal supporters and I thought it was about time I set a horse and found the right race this season,” said Moore. “I said to him I didn’t want to go towards the Derby (15 March) because I don’t believe this horse gets a step beyond a mile.”
Moore, who was registering a third win in the Hong Kong leg of the annual two-race Interport series (2007 Tiber and 2012 Majestic Falcon), admitted to some worry when he saw Arpinati’s way blocked early in the straight.
“I saw Super Lifeline give him an awful big bump,” he said. “I don’t know if he put in a wrong stride, Super Lifeline, but he pushed him across heels pretty quickly. That gave me great concern, because I thought that no run would come but a run did eventuate and we know Arpinati will always kick – he has got a good kick to him and that is what he did today. We got a little lucky, it was a rough race, but we have got the money and that is the main thing.
“We found the right race today and winning the Hong Kong Macau Trophy, a Group 3 race, is important. He’s entered in the (G1) Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup at 1400m coming up but when you put Able Friend in that, well I think we might just look for another race in April!”
Arpinati’s success was one of five on the day for the prolific Moreira, who has already chalked up 86 wins this season. At the current rate, he is well on his way to bettering Douglas Whyte’s Hong Kong record of 114 wins in a season.
The day’s other feature, the Class 2 Association of Hong Kong Racing Journalists Challenge Cup (Handicap, 1600m), went to the Paul O’Sullivan-trained Santa Fe Sun under Umberto Rispoli. That brought up a treble on the day for the in-form O’Sullivan, who scored earlier on the card with Fay Deep (Race 2) and Expedite (Race 3).
The Macau leg, the Macau Hong Kong Trophy at Taipa racecourse, is scheduled for Saturday 18 April, 2015.