09/03/2022  Happy Valley  Race 8

SPECIAL M began awkwardly and then was hampered by WINNER METHOD which shifted out. MR COLOURFUL was badly crowded for room on jumping between THE RUNNER which shifted in marginally and ATOMIC FORCE which shifted out. MR COLOURFUL and ATOMIC FORCE were then both hampered a short distance after the start as NERVOUS WITNESS got its head on the side and shifted out. In this incident, THE RUNNER became badly unbalanced when bumped by MR COLOURFUL. From a wide barrier, PRIDE OF EIGHT was steadied to obtain cover in the early stages. When being steadied in the early stages, MAN STAR shifted out and bumped SUNNY BOY which in turn shifted out and bumped HAPPY SHARING, resulting in SUNNY BOY and HAPPY SHARING both becoming unbalanced. After this, MAN STAR, SUNNY BOY and HAPPY SHARING were all steadied to obtain cover. After the 700 Metres, MAN STAR and SUNNY BOY raced tight, resulting in both horses becoming unbalanced. Making the turn near the 600 Metres, ATOMIC FORCE got its head on the side and shifted out towards the heels of VALIANT DREAM, resulting in ATOMIC FORCE being very awkwardly placed inside that horse. SPARKLING DRAGON had some difficulty obtaining clear running in the early part of the Straight and passing the 200 Metres was shifted to the outside of MR COLOURFUL to obtain clear running. HAPPY SHARING, which was following SPARKLING DRAGON, lay in passing the 300 Metres and was reluctant to shift to the outside of that horse. Throughout the race, VALIANT DREAM and MR COLOURFUL travelled wide and without cover. A veterinary inspection of THE RUNNER immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. NERVOUS WITNESS and SPECIAL M were sent for sampling.