3 minute read
That was the short story of the HKIR 2024.
And the longer version is that the raiders scored first in the Vase with Giavellotto gaining a win for the Brits, something that has happened in quite a while. Oisin Murphy spotted a gap about 50m from the post and got through it to charge the post and win for Marco Botti. Dubai Honour ran a huge race to finish second and the favourite the young Japanese runner Stellenbosch did well despite traffic and finished third and is obviously a very promising item. Jockey Oisin Murphy had persuaded the team to bring Giavelotto to Hong Kong and to this race! We hope his sling was appropriate!
But please announcers and commentators learn to pronounce the winner's name correctly – you had Marco Botti and a swarm of Italians who could have told you how to pronounce it – for the record -Jave-lotto. Not that hard is it??????? And for the other record it means "Javelin".
Well we can't say Ka Ying Rising won the sprint like a horse that was at the equal shortest price odds in Hong Kong should have – he's run better than that and seemed a bit flat nevertheless he got his G1, got his 8th win in a row and got lots of cheers from the spectators. Helios Express really took it to him with a savvy ride from Bowman and Satono Reve ran well for third. California Spangle looked good for a while but just lacked that final push and had to settle for 4th. Big disappointment in the race was Lugal whom the Japanese had been quite keen on but it was not his day. The winner's future plans will now probably depend on how he comes out of this race.
We said the Mile was the hardest to predict and so it turned out to be although the home-town winner Voyage Bubble was well fancied at home and a happy J Mac brought him home in front of Soul Rush – they had a bit of a bumping duel for a while but Voyage Bubble toughed it out. Beauty Joy at 100/1 took third for Cruz-Avdulla and while Changcheng Clory crossed the line fourth he was demoted to sixth after interfering with Happy Together who got promoted to fifth.
And the Cup provided everyone's happy moment when Romantic Warrior crossed the line clear of a very gallant Liberty Island – she just isn't as fast as Romantic Warrior then few horses are. So this was a third win in a row in this race – a record that will be bard to equal. It was a very emotional J Mac who returned the horse to scale saying that it was one of those times where you had to pinch yourself so prove it was real. Third went to Tastiera who put in a solid run under Damien Lane but he lacked that last gasp finish and for those who had been wondering what The Foxes was doing in Hong Kong the answer is running 4th in the Cup at 113/1. One of our roughies Straight Arran did well to run 5th and will definitely stay in the little black book.
On the undercard trainer Francis Lui won the first three races and then bookended those win with a winner in the last!
