23/11/2022  Happy Valley  Race 8

ZONE D began only fairly. From wide barriers, KEEN UNITY and DYNAMIC SPIRIT were shifted across behind runners in the early stages. Passing the 1600 Metres, EXCEPTIONAL NICE and JADE PHOENIX raced tight. Approaching the winning post on the first occasion, JADE PHOENIX shifted in and bumped the hindquarters of EN POINTE. Passing the 800 Metres, STORM LEGEND was awkwardly placed close to the heels of DR WINNING and then approaching the 600 Metres commenced to travel very keenly and was checked away from the heels of DR WINNING. STORM LEGEND was then again awkwardly placed close to the heels of DR WINNING and passing the 500 Metres shifted out and in doing so inconvenienced SPIRITED EXPRESS. STORM LEGEND was then badly held up for clear running rounding the Home Turn when having to be checked away from the heels of NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE which was giving ground. Near the 350 Metres, SPIRITED EXPRESS was also checked away from the heels of NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE as that horse gave ground. Approaching the 200 Metres, the whip of K H Chan (RED MAJESTY) became caught behind the Sheepskin Cheek Pieces of JADE PHOENIX, resulting in K H Chan dropping his whip passing the 200 Metres. Near the 50 Metres, STORM LEGEND was shifted in away from the heels of EXCEPTIONAL NICE, resulting in ZONE D being inconvenienced. After the 50 Metres, SPIRITED EXPRESS was shifted out away from the heels of EXCEPTIONAL NICE to continue improving. When questioned, C Wong stated that he was asked to ride NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE positively in the early stages and obtain a position in front of midfield. He said from barrier 3 he rode his mount along for some distance in the early stages with a view to crossing DR WINNING to his inside, however, NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE did not show as much early speed as he had hoped and passing the winning post on the first occasion was left racing in a three wide position outside that horse. He said whilst it was available for him to steady NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE to obtain a position behind DR WINNING passing the winning post on the first occasion, he felt that it may be more advantageous for NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE to improve forward of DR WINNING and obtain a position one horse off the rail. He said DR WINNING continued to maintain its position inside NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE and it was not until after the 1100 Metres that he was able to improve forward of that horse with a view to crossing DR WINNING. He added that as he was doing this RED MAJESTY shifted away from the rail approaching the 1000 Metres which resulted in him having to remain racing in a three wide position. He said when RED MAJESTY shifted out, NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE improved its position to be racing outside the hindquarters of EN POINTE and therefore he was not able to steady NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE sufficiently to obtain cover behind that horse when RED MAJESTY shifted back in to race on the rail after the 1000 Metres. He said this resulted in NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE racing wide and without cover throughout the race. After the race, Z Purton was not able to offer any explanation for the disappointing performance of ZONE D. He said after momentarily racing tight inside SPIRITED EXPRESS approaching the 1300 Metres, ZONE D travelled satisfactorily in the middle stages, however after being placed under pressure in the early part of the Straight was finishing the race off only fairly when awkwardly placed inside STORM LEGEND near the 50 Metres. A veterinary inspection of ZONE D immediately following the race including an endoscopic examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse’s trachea. Before being allowed to race again, ZONE D will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. Also after the race, K C Leung stated that JADE PHOENIX did not travel comfortably in tonight’s race and after coming under pressure prior to the Home Turn then weakened noticeably over the latter stage. A veterinary inspection of JADE PHOENIX immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. A veterinary inspection of DR WINNING immediately following the race including an endoscopic examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse’s trachea. Before being allowed to race again, DR WINNING will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. ZONE D, EXCEPTIONAL NICE and RED MAJESTY were sent for sampling.