01/10/2010  Shatin  Race 4

At declaration time, Apprentice K C Leung was declared as the rider of both DREAMS MAKER and POLYGOLD. It was established that Apprentice Leung had a firm commitment to ride DREAMS MAKER. As such, the Stewards permitted W M Lai to be substituted as the rider of POLYGOLD. For this declaration error, Trainer T W Leung was fined $2,000. ZEPHYRUS was slow to begin. SUPREME YEARS jumped in at the start, resulting in GREAT RENOWN being hampered and in turn taken in onto GOOD FORTUNE which was checked and lost ground. LUCKY PHOTO FRAME jumped awkwardly. Soon after the start, both CHEEKY LAD and TRAVEL KING were taken across behind runners. At the 1200 Metres, POLYGOLD was steadied away from the heels of HANDSOME BATCHELOR which shifted in when barely clear. From the 1000 Metres, POLYGOLD raced wide and without cover. On the Home Turn, ZEPHYRUS was held up on the heels of GOOD FORTUNE and unable to improve. Then over the concluding stages, ZEPHYRUS, which was closing off the race well, was awkwardly placed when raced in restricted room inside LUCKY PHOTO FRAME. When questioned, W C Marwing stated that after being steadied off the heels of POLYGOLD at the 800 Metres, FAST INTENTIONS became very awkward and ran wide. He added however that he was able to quickly resume his position on FAST INTENTIONS and the horse travelled reasonably through the middle stages. He said that at the 500 Metres FAST INTENTIONS came under pressure and then did not let down from that point of the race and proved very disappointing. He added that he was unable to explain the disappointing performance of FAST INTENTIONS, which was stepping up in distance to 1400 Metres, as the horse had worked well prior to today’s race and, in his opinion, had improved in conditions since its second placing at Sha Tin on 18 September 2010. A veterinary inspection of FAST INTENTIONS after the race did not show any significant findings. The performance of FAST INTENTIONS was considered unacceptable. Before being allowed to race again, FAST INTENTIONS will be required to perform to the satisfaction of the Stewards in an official barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. When questioned, D Whyte stated that after settling behind midfield, GREAT RENOWN was reluctant to hold its position in the middle stages due to GOOD FORTUNE racing ungenerously and shifting out to his inside. He added however that GREAT RENOWN was disappointing in that it failed to let down in the Straight and respond as he expected it would. A veterinary inspection of GREAT RENOWN after the race did not show any significant findings. FAST INTENTIONS, CHARMGOLD and HANDSOME BATCHELOR were sent for sampling.