13/01/2010  Happy Valley  Race 3

SPARKLING FEELING was withdrawn on raceday morning by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (lame left hind). Before being allowed to race again, SPARKLING FEELING will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. SOLITAIRE was slow to begin. LUCKY WINNER was slow to begin and then despite being ridden along in the early stages was slow to muster. For this reason, LUCKY WINNER raced further back than anticipated. From a barrier towards the outside, DARPANA was taken across behind runners shortly after the start. M W Leung (WITHALLMYHEART) was severely reprimanded for permitting his mount to shift in near the 1100 Metres, resulting in MORNING GREEN being unnecessarily crowded for room and taken in onto the hindquarters of HIGH RETURN which became unbalanced. SHOWTIME made the turn passing the 600 Metres awkwardly and shifted out. When this occurred, HIGH RETURN was shifted out to improve between SHOWTIME and WITHALLMYHEART. A short distance later, HIGH RETURN and SHOWTIME bumped as SHOWTIME attempted to shift back in. Near the 200 Metres, DARPANA was shifted out away from the heels of BIG KAHUNA which was taken out slightly by SHOWTIME. When questioned, M W Leung stated that when discussing the riding tactics to be adopted on WITHALLMYHEART, it was noted that apart from LUCKY WINNER, there did not appear to be a great deal of pace in the race. He said it was decided that WITHALLMYHEART should be ridden positively in the early stages to cross runners to its inside after which it was anticipated that he would be able to steady WITHALLMYHEART and allow runners on his outside with some speed, namely, COUNTRY MAGIC and ALL THE WINNERS, to take up forward positions to provide WITHALLMYHEART with cover. He said WITHALLMYHEART began well, he rode along in the early stages to clear runners to his inside and after obtaining the lead passing the 1000 Metres he immediately steadied WITHALLMYHEART to allow ALL THE WINNERS to cross from a wide barrier to provide the horse with cover. He said WITHALLMYHEART travelled well during the race and when ridden this way was able to finish off the race fairly. A veterinary inspection of MORNING GREEN after the race did not show any significant findings. MORNING GREEN, HIGH RETURN and BIG KAHUNA were sent for sampling.