16/02/2020  Shatin  Race 7

After being brushed by THANKS FOREVER on jumping, WISHFUL THINKER was steadied in the early stages to obtain cover. Near the 1050 Metres, BEAUTY GENERATION got its head up when awkwardly placed behind KA YING STAR. BEAUTY GENERATION (Z Purton) then shifted in approaching the 1000 Metres, resulting in BEAT THE CLOCK being awkwardly placed outside the heels of RATTAN. Z Purton was advised to exercise more care in similar circumstances. Passing the 500 Metres, RATTAN shifted out and bumped the hindquarters of KA YING STAR, resulting in both horses becoming unbalanced. When questioned, G van Niekerk (THANKS FOREVER) stated that he was instructed to take a trailing position from a wide barrier behind the two leaders which were anticipated to be BEAUTY GENERATION and KA YING STAR. He said THANKS FOREVER began awkwardly and then became unbalanced after being bumped by BEAUTY GENERATION which shifted out. He said he rode his mount along in an endeavour to improve his position to be racing outside BEAUTY GENERATION, however, when it was apparent to him passing the 1300 Metres that BEAUTY GENERATION was going to remain one horse away from the rail with HOT KING PRAWN and KA YING STAR being ridden to race in the lead, he felt that THANKS FOREVER would be left racing three wide and without cover. He said he therefore steadied his mount to shift across behind BEAUTY GENERATION, however, as he was doing this, BEAT THE CLOCK and RATTAN maintained their position to the inside of THANKS FOREVER and as he was concerned that THANKS FOREVER was going to be left racing three wide and without cover, he steadied THANKS FOREVER further to obtain a trailing position behind BEAT THE CLOCK which resulted in THANKS FOREVER racing towards the rear and further back in the field than had been intended. When questioned regarding the performance of BEAT THE CLOCK, J Moreira stated that his mount was slow to begin which resulted in him having to ride it along in the early stages to make up lost ground. He said he was able to obtain a midfield position inside BEAUTY GENERATION after the 1200 Metres and then was inconvenienced when crowded for room near the 1000 Metres. He said, irrespective of this crowding, BEAT THE CLOCK travelled well in the middle stages and he anticipated that the horse would finish off the race strongly as it had done in the past. He said he shifted BEAT THE CLOCK out from behind BEAUTY GENERATION and into clear running passing the 400 Metres, however, he became concerned when BEAT THE CLOCK did not quicken as it had for him in the past. He said near the 350 Metres he was required to ride BEAT THE CLOCK hard in order to have it finish off the race better, however, the horse did not respond to his riding, finished off the race only one-paced and was disappointing. A veterinary inspection of BEAT THE CLOCK immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. BEAUTY GENERATION and KA YING STAR were sent for sampling.