21/02/2016  Shatin  Race 6

At declaration time, C Schofield was declared as the rider of both FORMULA GALORE and BRIGHT CONCEPT. It was established that C Schofield had a firm commitment to ride BRIGHT CONCEPT. As such, the Stewards permitted K Teetan to be substituted as the rider of FORMULA GALORE. For this declaration error, C Schofield was fined $2,000. SUPERIOR BOY shifted out at the start and bumped SUPER SPRINTER. TOM'S CHARM and LUCKY SEBRING were crowded for room on jumping between VICTORY HEART and GOOD MAN which shifted in. MULTIEXPRESS and SEVEN LUCK were slow to begin. Shortly after the start, SEVEN LUCK was steadied away from the heels of JOLLY SPRING which shifted in. From wide barriers, JOLLY SPRING and FORMULA GALORE were shifted across behind runners in the early stages. Passing the 1000 Metres, VICTORY HEART was steadied when crowded for room between SUPER SPRINTER which initially shifted out and HAMMER KING (J Moreira) which shifted in. J Moreira was advised to exercise more care in similar circumstances. LOVE CHUNGHWA, which was following, was shifted out away from the heels of VICTORY HEART in consequence. Approaching and making the first turn, LOVE CHUNGHWA proved very difficult to settle and got its head up on a number of occasions. After the 900 Metres, HAMMER KING was left racing wide and without cover. At the entrance to the Straight, HAMMER KING was steadied away from the heels of BRIGHT CONCEPT which was taken out by SUPREME FLIGHT which in turn was taken out by GOOD MAN (Z Purton). Z Purton was advised to exercise more care in similar circumstances. Also at the entrance to the Straight, JOLLY SPRING was shifted to the inside of LUCKY SEBRING after being disappointed for running between TOM'S CHARM and LUCKY SEBRING which shifted out. Near the 350 Metres, JOLLY SPRING became unbalanced when bumped by LUCKY SEBRING which, after initially being taken in slightly by TOM'S CHARM, then got its head on the side and shifted in abruptly away from that horse. Also the 350 Metres, SUPER SPRINTER was brushed by MULTIEXPRESS which shifted out. Near the 300 Metres, BRIGHT CONCEPT shifted out and bumped the hindquarters of HAMMER KING. Passing the 100 Metres, SUPER SPRINTER and MULTIEXPRESS bumped, resulting in SUPER SPRINTER becoming unbalanced. Close to the finishing line, TOM'S CHARM was awkwardly placed behind SUPERIOR BOY and JOLLY SPRING and as a consequence was not able to be ridden out all the way to the end of the race. The Stewards deferred the declaration of weighed-in as they were of the prima facie view that an incident occurred passing the 150 Metres which cast doubt on whether HAMMER KING (J Moreira) should be declared the winner. After viewing the videos, a protest/objection on behalf of the connections of GOOD MAN was not proceeded with. The Stewards found that after coming from behind GOOD MAN, HAMMER KING commenced to hang in near the 200 Metres under pressure and approaching the 100 Metres shifted in and bumped GOOD MAN which became unbalanced. It was further found that a short distance later HAMMER KING, which continued to lay in, again made contact with GOOD MAN which shifted out slightly after becoming unbalanced due to the initial contact. Having regard to the manner in which HAMMER KING had made up ground to be gaining an advantage over GOOD MAN and the manner in which both horses finished off the race, the Stewards believed that there were insufficient grounds to proceed with a formal protest/objection hearing and accordingly weighed-in was declared on the numbers semaphored by the Judge. Whilst it had no bearing on the Stewards' decision not to proceed with the matter, Z Purton did not lodge a formal protest/objection on behalf of the connections of GOOD MAN. J Moreira was severely reprimanded and advised that whilst HAMMER KING was hanging in, he would be expected to stop riding and straighten his mounts to prevent causing interference to other runners in similar circumstances. A veterinary inspection of LOVE CHUNGHWA immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. HAMMER KING and GOOD MAN were sent for sampling.