01/01/2023  Shatin  Race 6

DRAGON PRIDE was crowded for room on jumping between FOREVER FOLKS and GENERAL ACE which shifted out after being bumped by CLASSIC ARCHI. COMING PATCH was crowded for room at the start between GOOD NEWS and IRON WILL. FLYING MOJITO shifted in on jumping and inconvenienced OVER THE MOON. OSCAR GLORY was slow to muster speed in the early stages despite being ridden along. Passing the 1500 Metres, GENERAL ACE shifted out and hampered DRAGON PRIDE. Passing the 800 Metre, OSCAR GLORY raced in restricted room inside the heels of RED TITAN. OSCAR GLORY then raced close to the heels of RED TITAN passing the 700 Metres. MAXIMIZE HEART was taken wider and without cover at the 600 Metres by OSCAR GLORY which shifted out from behind RED TITAN. TURQUOISE ALPHA was unable to obtain clear running from on straightening until near the 150 Metres. Passing the 400 Metres, ONE HEART ONE raced tight inside OVER THE MOON which shifted in from behind FOREVER FOLKS. Then passing the 350 Metres, OVER THE MOON was bumped by ONE HEART ONE which shifted out away from the heels of GENERAL ACE. IRON WILL was held up for clear running approaching and passing the 300 Metres. After the 250 Metres, ONE HEART ONE endeavoured to improve into tight running between OVER THE MOON and GOOD NEWS which was giving ground. As ONE HEART ONE was improving outside the heels of GOOD NEWS, ONE HEART ONE shifted out, resulting in OVER THE MOON being checked when crowded for room inside FOREVER FOLKS which shifted in marginally. Whilst this incident was one of some significance with OVER THE MOON being checked, the Stewards were of the opinion that there was no rider carelessness involved and therefore no further action was taken. GENERAL ACE was held up for clear running passing the 200 Metres when awkwardly placed behind GOOD NEWS. After the race, K C Leung stated that it took GOOD NEWS some time in the early stages to be able to clear runners to its inside and obtain a forward position. He said after obtaining a position behind the lead after the 1200 Metres, GOOD NEWS travelled satisfactorily before coming under pressure rounding the Home Turn. He said GOOD NEWS initially stayed on satisfactorily in the early part of the Straight, but gave ground over the latter stages which indicated to him that the horse did not see out the distance of today’s race at the first time of asking. He said he therefore recommended to connections that they consider dropping the horse back in distance for its future starts. A veterinary inspection of GOOD NEWS immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of RED TITAN, Z Purton stated that he had to make more use of RED TITAN in the early stages to clear runners to its inside and obtain a forward position than he anticipated. He said it was not until passing the 1200 Metres that he was able to shift across to race outside OSCAR GLORY, after which RED TITAN was then able to relax in the middle stages. He said the horse came under pressure after the 400 Metres and did not quicken as he anticipated and over the concluding stages RED TITAN was disappointing in its failure to finish the race off. He added whilst RED TITAN did give ground over the latter stages, he was of the view that the use that he had to make of the horse in the early stages provided a reason for RED TITAN then being unable to finish the race off. A veterinary inspection RED TITAN immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. RED TITAN, COMING PATCH and FLYING MOJITO were sent for sampling.