20/03/2011  Shatin  Race 10

IRON EAGLE, which was very fractious in the barriers, was slow to begin. PURE CHAMPION, which was also fractious in the barriers, lifted its front feet off the ground at the start and consequently lost ground. DIEGO was slow to begin. Near the 700 Metres, FORTUNE RED PEPPER got its head up and raced ungenerously when awkwardly placed close to the heels of MR BOND. TURF EXPRESS, which was following, was checked away from the heels FORTUNE RED PEPPER in consequence. Rounding the Home Turn, DRAGON FIGHTER (Apprentice M L Yeung) got its head on the side and hung out. Apprentice Yeung was warned against the practice of extending his elbow out away from his body. In the early part of the Straight, MR BOND was awkwardly placed between CHATER MIKADO and PERFECT GEAR which, when commencing to give ground, was taken out slightly by PAGANINI’S SOUL. TURF EXPRESS was held up for clear running in the early part of the Straight. At the 200 Metres, DRAGON FIGHTER was struck across the nose by the whip of B Prebble (CAPTAIN SWEET) and as a result became unbalanced. For the majority of the race, PERFECT GEAR travelled wide and without cover. P Strydom (MR BOND) reported that after the 200 Metres his saddle shifted to the right hand side and for this reason he was obliged to lean to the left in order to attempt to correct the position of his saddle. He said because of this he was not able to properly test MR BOND over the final 100 Metres. A veterinary inspection of PERFECT GEAR after the race did not show any significant findings. CAPTAIN SWEET, LEADING CITY and PAGANINI’S SOUL were sent for sampling.