Ricky Yiu has confirmed his stable star Voyage Bubble will take a rare shot at completing Hong Kong’s Triple Crown in next month’s G1 Champions & Chater Cup after his narrow Champions Mile defeat at Sha Tin on Sunday.
While the 67-year-old trainer previously cast doubts on a Triple Crown bid for his top-class galloper, Yiu said he is confident Voyage Bubble will handle the step up to 2400m for the first time after he took plenty of positives out of his agonising Group 1 second to Red Lion at the weekend.
“He ran another good race and we would have loved to win, but we’re definitely aiming for the Champions & Chater Cup now,” Yiu told Idol Horse.
“I think he’s getting more and more relaxed and he showed that on Sunday, so I think an extra 400 metres shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll handle it.”
Voyage Bubble came within a short head of a fourth consecutive Group 1 win on Sunday when he failed to reel in $90 chance Red Lion, who tenaciously made all in the Champions Mile after a fierce battle with the odds-on favourite in the closing stages.
John Size’s six-year-old survived a stewards’ inquiry which took over 15 minutes to judge whether the contact between Red Lion and Voyage Bubble, caused by the former shifting out in the final 100m, cost Yiu’s charge victory in the HK$24 million contest.
“There was a little bump and Voyage Bubble was slightly unbalanced and off his own line, but Hugh corrected the winner and straightened him up,” Yiu said. “We thought it was worth a protest and it was definitely a close one. That’s probably why it took so long.”
Voyage Bubble jumped at odds of $1.6 after dominating in the previous two Group 1 mile contests in Hong Kong – December’s Hong Kong Mile and January’s Stewards’ Cup – but he was unable to get past the game front-runner under James McDonald.
He will now attempt to become only the second horse in history to win all three legs of the Triple Crown, which consists of the Stewards’ Cup, February’s G1 Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and the Champions & Chater Cup on May 25.
The great River Verdon completed the extraordinary feat in 1994 when the Champions & Chater Cup was instead contested over 2200m. It was a campaign Yiu remembers vividly.
“I’m one of the old-timers here so I remember River Verdon doing it well,” Yiu said. “Hopefully Voyage Bubble can do it as well. It will be very challenging and it looks like it could be a good race with a couple of internationals maybe coming over.”
It’s 13 years since the brilliant champion Ambitious Dragon was foiled in his Triple Crown attempt. The gelding won the Stewards’ Cup and Hong Kong Gold Cup but was beaten into second behind Liberator in an all-domestic line-up for the Champions & Chater Cup.
When Voyage Bubble enters uncharted territory and chases the HK$10 million bonus on offer for sweeping the Triple Crown, he may face fierce competition from overseas raiders attempting to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Champions & Chater Cup winner Rebel’s Romance.
Entries closed yesterday for the final Group 1 of the Hong Kong season and names like Rebel’s Romance again, Al Riffa, Dubai Honour and Stellenbosch will likely be high on the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s wishlist.
The Champions & Chater Cup is the last Group 1 of Hong Kong’s season, but the trainer said his yard will be hoping for more feature-race glory six days later.
Sunlight Power came home fastest of all in the final 200m of the Champions Mile when he produced a huge career-best to finish third. The five-year-old, who started the 2024-25 campaign in Class 3 company, will head to the G3 Lion Rock Trophy over a mile on May 31.
“Sunlight Power has been put up four [points] for his stunning third so he’s now on 107,” Yiu said. “We’ll go to the Lion Rock Trophy at the end of May because it was just a huge run and he keeps performing and improving.” ∎
