16/05/2010  Shatin  Race 11

At declaration time, D Dunn was declared as the rider of both NEEDLES AND THREAD and HELENE WITTY. It was established that D Dunn had a firm commitment to ride HELENE WITTY. As such, the Stewards permitted M W Leung to be substituted as the rider of NEEDLES AND THREAD. For this declaration error, Trainer T W Leung was fined $2,000. UNION’S STAR was slow to begin. TIME LEGEND began awkwardly, shifted in abruptly and bumped the hindquarters of SPARKLING POWER which became unbalanced. For some distance passing the 1200 Meters, SPARKLING POWER proved very difficult to settle and got its head up on a number of occasions. SPARKLING POWER then continued to prove difficult to settle in the middle stages. Both SPARKLING POWER and UNION’S STAR had difficulty obtaining clear running in the early part of the Straight. Throughout the race, QUICK TOUCH travelled wide and without cover. When questioned, C W Wong (JUN QI) stated that with the step up in distance to 1400 Metres and with the more favourable barrier, he had been instructed to follow YOU GOTTA PAY throughout the race, if possible, as that horse was an obvious strong chance in the race. When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of FOREVER ELATION, O Doleuze stated that rounding the Home Turn his mount raced close to the heels of NEEDLES AND THREAD which was commencing to give ground. He added for this reason he shifted to the outside of that horse sooner than he would have hoped. He said when placed under pressure in the Straight FOREVER ELATION, which he had not ridden before today, was disappointing in its failure to respond to his riding. A veterinary inspection of FOREVER ELATION after the race did not show any significant findings. SPARKLING POWER and YOU GOTTA PAY were sent for sampling.