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Hard luck stayed away from today’s (Thursday, 17 March) HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) barrier draw, raising smiles in almost every quarter as each of the leading contenders pulled a prime berth for Sunday’s (20 March) HK$18 million feature.
Sun Jewellery is chasing history as the first horse to win all three four-year-old majors, following his earlier victories in the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile and HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup. The Derby’s highest rated runner (110) drew gate four, while stablemate and Classic Cup third (dead-heat) Eastern Express, will break from gate five.
“They’re good gates for this race and I think the jockeys will be able to do what they would like to do from there,” said the pair’s trainer, John Size.
“The horses seem fine. They’ve had a bit of racing and done a fair bit of hard yards to get here but I think they’ve still got another run in them, so I’m pretty happy with them.”
Tony Cruz has three strings to his Derby bow, the pick being Giovanni Canaletto, a fast-finishing fifth in the Classic Cup at only his second Hong Kong start. The trainer was delighted with gate seven for Joao Moreira’s mount.
“Seven is a perfect draw for him, he’s smack in middle, he has a great position and Joao is the perfect jockey for him,” he said, adding, “I’m confident about the horse.”
Cruz will also saddle the expected pace-setter, King Genki, as well as Green Dispatch.
“When King Genki raced in France he was always up on the pace and he’s got to race that way,” said Cruz. “Green Dispatch, last time he ran we put on the blinkers and he got upset, so we’ve taken them off and he’s nothing but a staying type of horse. I expect all of them to put on a big show.”
John Moore will have four in the race and he was pleased, overall, with the outcome of the barrier draw after his main hope Werther, runner-up in both the Classic Mile and Classic Cup, drew gate three. That berth is tied with gate 10 as the most successful since the race distance was upped to 2000m 16 years ago, both having produced three winners of the race. The most recent gate three victor was Akeed Mofeed in 2013.
Victory Magic drew gate two and White Magic gate six. Helene Paragon is the Moore quartet’s outlier after he drew gate 13 of the 14 runners.
“Three have drawn well and one has drawn poorly – I couldn’t ask for better than that, really,” said Moore. “Sun Jewellery’s drawn four and we’ve got Werther and Victory Magic inside of him, so it will be interesting. Helene Paragon gets on the chewy-chewy, he gets up on the bit, so the wide draw isn’t ideal for him.”
Consort, on the cusp of the leading contenders after a smart barrier trial last week that seemed to indicate he has improved on his moderate Classic Mile and Classic Cup efforts, drew gate 12. But trainer Richard Gibson was far from downbeat.
“I’m not that disappointed,” he said. “He’s a slow starter anyway so it might be an advantage having him on the outside rather than on the fence. We’ll be coming from behind.
“We’ve done a huge amount of fitness work since his last run, that run clearly showed me he was low on condition and I’ve been really impressed with his progress since his previous run. He’s thrived and he’s in a good place mentally. I think he’ll have something to say on Sunday.”
The Ricky Yiu-trained Blizzard, often drawn wide in his career to date, has a more comfortable spot in gate eight this time. Friends Of Ka Ying drew gate 10, Hero Look gate 11 and Lucky Girl against the fence in gate one.