05/01/2011  Happy Valley  Race 5

OCEAN WIDE was withdrawn on 3.1.11 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (lame left fore) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter SECRET OF WINNING. Before being allowed to race again, OCEAN WIDE will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. SECRET OF WINNING began awkwardly. EURO POWER was slow to begin. Near the 700 Metres, DIAMOND KNIGHT was steadied away from the heels of FREE AND EASY which itself was awkwardly placed inside the heels of AMEDEO. Near the 600 Metres, SUPREME DE UNION and DIAMOND KNIGHT brushed. A short distance later, SUPREME DE UNION was taken wider by DIAMOND KNIGHT which shifted out when awkwardly placed close to the heels of FREE AND EASY. Shortly after entering the Straight, FRESH AIR was checked away from the heels of SECRET OF WINNING after getting its head on the side and being reluctant to shift to the outside of that runner. When questioned, Mr D J Hall, the trainer of JUN DAO, advised that he had instructed Y T Cheng from the outside barrier to shift the horse across behind runners in the early stages. He said at a number of its recent races JUN DAO was not able to finish off the race when ridden to obtain forward positions and as he felt that tonight’s race would be run at a good tempo, he believed that too much use would have to be made of JUN DAO in the early stages to take up a forward position and that if JUN DAO was not able to cross runners to its inside, it would be left racing wide. SUPREME DE UNION, AMEDEO and FREE AND EASY were sent for sampling.