28/01/2018  Shatin  Race 8

HELENE PARAGON was slow to begin. WESTERN EXPRESS began awkwardly and then was awkwardly placed outside JOYFUL TRINITY which shifted out. After the 1400 Metres, WERTHER (H Bowman) was left racing wide and without cover. After the race, H Bowman reported that after TIME WARP improved to be racing inside WERTHER and at the same time was proving very difficult to settle, WERTHER then commenced to travel keenly and as he was racing extremely wide, he allowed the horse to improve its position to race outside the lead after the 1100 Metres. After the 1000 Metres, SICHUAN DAR raced tight between TIME WARP and FIFTY FIFTY. Approaching the 500 Metres, HELENE PARAGON and HORSE OF FORTUNE bumped as HELENE PARAGON attempted to shift to the outside of SEASONS BLOOM. At the entrance to the Straight, HORSE OF FORTUNE was eased away from the heels of HELENE PARAGON which continued to shift out into clear running. Passing the 200 Metres, SICHUAN DAR was awkwardly placed inside the heels of JOYFUL TRINITY. Near the 50 Metres, HORSE OF FORTUNE raced tight inside JOYFUL TRINITY which shifted in under pressure. When questioned, Z Purton stated that on jumping TIME WARP lifted its front feet off the ground and was slow to begin. He said TIME WARP then got its head on the side and lay in across the heels of SICHUAN DAR and in doing so clipped the heels of that horse and became unbalanced. He said because of this TIME WARP was positioned much further back in the field than had been expected. He said he then allowed TIME WARP to improve its position in the hope that it would be able to take up a prominent position without having to be hard ridden to do so. He said TIME WARP was able to improve its position after the 1400 Metres but when racing behind SICHUAN DAR passing the 1300 Metres commenced to prove very difficult to settle and got its head up when being checked away from the heels of that horse. He said as he was not able to remain racing behind SICHUAN DAR, he then allowed his mount to continue to improve its position in the hope that he would be able to obtain cover behind WERTHER. He said he was able to achieve this briefly near the 1000 Metres, however, when WERTHER improved to race outside the lead, TIME WARP was then left racing in a three wide position without cover. He said after the 800 Metres TIME WARP and BEAUTY GENERATION raced tight and in the Straight TIME WARP consequently gave ground He added, in his opinion, the circumstances of the race in the early and middle stages after TIME WARP missed the start resulted in the horse not being able to finish off the race. A veterinary inspection of TIME WARP immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. After the race, T Berry stated that HELENE PARAGON improved nicely into the race rounding the Home Turn and after shifting to the outside of TIME WARP passing the 400 Metres initially quickened well. He said HELENE PARAGON had been able to sustain a long run in the past and given the turn of foot the horse showed in the early part of the Straight, he expected it to finish off the race strongly. He said however after initially responding well to his riding, he became concerned with the manner in which HELENE PARAGON was closing off the race at about the 250 Metres as it was not sustaining its finishing run. He said then over the concluding stages HELENE PARAGON was disappointing in the manner in which it did not close off the race. TIME WARP, SEASONS BLOOM and FIFTY FIFTY were sent for sampling.