For the first time in years, Hong Kong’s big middle-distance races have no Romantic Warrior-shaped roadblock – and the effect is already rippling through stables at Sha Tin. The gaping hole he leaves at the top of the 2000m division has trainers reassessing distance ranges, while a Hong Kong Mile that looks as open as it has been in some time has a host of contenders eyeing the Group 1 prize. With the season’s key lead-up races approaching, Idol Horse spoke to the trainers of six potential HKIR players about when their stars will return, who will ride them, and what to expect.
Voyage Bubble
Rating: 128 | Trainer: Ricky Yiu | Likely return: G2 Sha Tin Trophy (1600m), October 19 | Age: 8 | Jockey: Jerry Chau
Voyage Bubble has pretty much done it all: a Hong Kong Derby, a Triple Crown and two Hong Kong Mile wins being the pick of his impressive achievements. But Ricky Yiu’s stable star is well into the veteran stage now and is without a win since last December’s G1 Hong Kong Mile, a run of four defeats.
That said, he’s nothing if not tough and a summer break might have been enough to freshen the old horse ahead of another big campaign. He might not be able to put together a run like he did two seasons back, of five wins and two seconds, but he’s won at least one Sha Tin major in each of the last four seasons, and with Romantic Warrior out of the way, he might yet add more. Always in need of his first-up run, Voyage Bubble will start off in the G2 Sha Tin Trophy, just as he has done in each of the last two campaigns.
Ricky Yiu: “He’s in full work, has never put a step wrong, and will be back at the races on October 19.”
MY WISH
Rating: 124 | Trainer: Mark Newnham | Likely return: G2 Sha Tin Trophy (1600m), October 19 | Age: 6 | Jockey: Hugh Bowman
My Wish is in pole position among Hong Kong’s milers ahead of his return. He won his first two races last term, including the Sha Tin Trophy second-up, and that race is scheduled to be his starting point this time around. Mark Newnham’s late-dashing miler was pegged to make a breakthrough at the Group 1 level last season but went through five mid-season defeats before he nailed a big one in the G1 Champions Mile at his last start back in April.
The Sha Tin Trophy has long been the first-up destination for Hong Kong’s stars at a mile and upwards and My Wish’s Derby-winning stablemate Invincible Ibis is also slated for the race. Hugh Bowman would have the option of the rides here for the Newnham stable, but that has been complicated by Bowman’s injury situation. Yet Newnham expects Bowman to be aboard My Wish first-up and then push through to HKIR, and he isn’t too concerned anyway.
Mark Newnham: “If the horses are going well then finding a high quality jockey isn’t a problem – and if they aren’t going that well a jockey isn’t going to help them much anyway.”
GALAXY PATCH
Rating: 120 | Trainer: Brett Crawford | Likely return: G3 Celebration Cup (1400m), September 27, or G2 Sha Tin Trophy (1600m), October 19 | Age: 7 | Jockey: Karis Teetan
Galaxy Patch is one of Hong Kong’s enigmas, but if his last run last season is anything to go by, perhaps a change of approach will prove to be the key to him. Roll back about two years and the talented gelding had completed a hat-trick of stakes wins with a first-up score for his then trainer Pierre Ng in the Sha Tin Trophy. His Group 1 destiny seemed assured.
We’re all still waiting, though. Galaxy Patch has shown flashes of elite quality – he had My Wish behind when winning last season’s G2 Jockey Club Mile – but also a propensity to flop on the big stage. Yet hope was renewed when he moved to Brett Crawford’s stable late last term and rattled home from deep to place a close second to Little Paradise in the 1400m G3 Premier Cup Handicap, conceding lumps of weight. Crawford could stick with that formula first-up and point Galaxy Patch at the G3 Celebration Cup over the same distance.
Brett Crawford: “He will trial at Happy Valley on Saturday and depending on that trial, there is a good chance he runs in the 1400m race at the end of the month, but he is a light-framed horse and a lot will depend on how he comes out of that trial. If we feel that race is too soon, we can wait until October.
“He is a proven horse and I thought his first run for the yard was huge. He looks like he has enjoyed his time off in Conghua, he has come back stronger. We know he has got the ability, he has just got to put it all together, so I am quite excited.
“Teetan will stay with him – he has ridden him a lot and he seems to get a good tune out of him.”
INVINCIBLE IBIS
Rating: 112 | Trainer: Mark Newnham | Likely return: G3 Celebration Cup (1400m), September 27 | Age: 5 | Jockey: Luke Ferraris
There’s always a buzz about a Hong Kong Derby winner returning for the first time in their follow-up season and that’s certainly the case with Invincible Ibis. Romantic Warrior’s retirement means there’s a big opportunity for a horse to step into that void and Invincible Ibis is the obvious prime candidate after his four-year-old campaign brought five wins from nine starts, wrapping up with a solid one-length fourth in the G1 Champions Mile.
Newnham has said he will keep the gelding to a mile through the first part of the campaign before looking to stretch back out to 2000m later on. Romantic Warrior’s departure would certainly make the step up appealing if things don’t go his way at the mile. Newnham was pleased with Invincible Ibis’ latest barrier trial at Sha Tin.
Mark Newnham: “I thought it was a nice trial. He stretched out nicely and he’s moving well. He pulled up having a good blow, but recovered quickly, so that’ll top him off for his race on the 27th.
“He’s got three runs before the international meeting in December. At this stage, we’ll most likely be going towards the mile, but after a couple of starts, if he looks like he needs the 2000, there’s that option as well.”
LITTLE PARADISE
Rating: 109 | Trainer: Jimmy Ting | Likely return: G3 Celebration Cup (1400m), September 27 | Age: 5 | Jockey: Zac Purton
Little Paradise was a brilliant winner of the Classic Mile last February, getting the run of the race and quickening impressively off a messy pace to rifle past his rivals. He was unable to reproduce that in the Classic Cup, Hong Kong Derby or Champions Mile at his next three starts, being well-beaten each time. Doubts hardened.
If that was that, Jimmy Ting’s gelding wouldn’t be in this list, but it wasn’t. Little Paradise showed that he’s still a miler with big potential in his final start last season, a victory in the G3 Premier Cup Handicap. True, he was getting 15lb in weight from the neck runner-up Galaxy Patch, but as the younger, less experienced of the two, it was a performance that reignited his Group 1 potential. With a summer of rest and maturation, could Little Paradise emerge as this season’s star miler?
Jimmy Ting: “The horse is OK. Not at top of his fitness, but it’s early in the season and his trial was good. A little quieter now – that will help him over 1600 metres. In the off-season I let him go to the paddock and kept him happy. The aim is the Hong Kong Mile and I hope Zac can ride him.”
NUMBERS
Rating: 108 | Trainer: Frankie Lor | Likely return: G3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m), November 8 | Age: 5 | Jockey: Derek Leung
If there’s one horse best-placed to capitalise on Romantic Warrior’s retirement, it would seem to be Numbers. Frankie Lor’s charge shapes as a natural to take the lead in Hong Kong’s starkly shallow 2000m to 2400m division, following a promising first season. That campaign saw him place second in the Derby and an unlucky close second to Romantic Warrior in the G1 Champions and Chater Cup over the longer distance.
Numbers is slated to start out in the historic Ladies’ Purse Handicap in early November, after which Lor and his owners will gauge which way to go with him into December’s International Races: the Hong Kong Cup at 2000m or the Vase over 2400m. Either way, Lor knows there’ll be no easy pickings in those Group 1 features, even with Romantic Warrior gone.
Frankie Lor: “You know, with Romantic Warrior not around, plenty more overseas horses will come to the International Races. So, we need to think about which way should be more easy.” ∎
