10/06/2018  Shatin  Race 11

SWEET LEADER was slow to begin. BLAZING PARTNERS began awkwardly. DIAMOND KING and CALIFORNIA JOY bumped shortly after the start. When being steadied to obtain cover from a wide barrier, GONNA RUN was bumped by KEEP WINNING shortly after the start. From wide barriers, SONIC FIGHTER, HIGH SPIRIT and FLYING QUEST were all shifted across behind runners in the early stages. Passing the 1200 Metres, BLAZING PARTNERS was awkwardly placed outside the heels of VILLA FIONN which shifted out marginally. Passing the 500 Metres CALIFORNIA JOY was steadied away from the heels of KEEP WINNING. Then after the 500 Metres, CALIFORNIA JOY was shifted away from behind KEEP WINNING which came under pressure. Also passing the 500 Metres, FLYING QUEST was shifted in away from the heels of MCMUNIGAL. KEEP WINNING gave ground abruptly upon straightening, resulting in FLYING QUEST being severely checked away from the heels of that horse for some distance after the 400 Metres. Near the 250 Metres, K C Leung (SONIC FIGHTER) momentarily lost the use of his whip. Throughout the race, KEEP WINNING travelled wide and without cover. The Stewards deferred the declaration of weighed-in as they were of the view that incidents occurred after the 250 Metres which cast doubt on whether VILLA FIONN (C Schofield) should be declared the 3rd placegetter. These incidents involved VILLA FIONN and CALIFORNIA JOY (N Callan), the 5th placegetter. It was established that passing the 300 Metres VILLA FIONN shifted out and bumped CALIFORNIA JOY, resulting in that horse becoming unbalanced and that approaching the 200 Metres VILLA FIONN shifted out and again made slight contact with CALIFORNIA JOY. It was further established that near the 150 Metres CALIFORNIA JOY shifted in and bumped VILLA FIONN. Having regard to these incidents and the manner in which both horses finished off the race, the Stewards did not believe it was appropriate to proceed to a formal protest/objection hearing and accordingly weighed-in was semaphored on the numbers semaphored by the Judge. N Callan did not lodge a protest/objection in respect of these incidents. C Schofield was reprimanded for permitting VILLA FIONN to shift out passing the 300 Metres which initiated the contact between the two horses. After the race, an endoscopic examination of SWEET LEADER found that horse to be a "roarer” and to have a substantial amount of mucus in its trachea. CALIFORNIA JOY, DIAMOND KING and VOLITATION were sent for sampling.