16/09/2009  Happy Valley  Race 5

BOBO WIN was withdrawn on 15.9.09 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (right fore capped elbow) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter HIGH INTELLIGENT (J Lloyd). Before being allowed to race again, BOBO WIN will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. As the gates opened, FORTUNE DRAGON reared and consequently lost considerable ground. CARRY GOOD NEWS was slow to begin. REGENCY KINGDOM was held up for clear running from on straightening until near the 200 Metres. C K Tong (DR WELL) was reprimanded for allowing his mount to shift out passing the 200 Metres, resulting in SPIRIT OF LO PAN being hampered. When questioned, J Lloyd stated that after being instructed to ride his mount in a forward position, he rode HIGH INTELLIGENT along vigorously in the early stages in an attempt to lead. He said despite his riding, HIGH INTELLIGENT did not muster sufficient pace to cross runners to his inside, therefore he elected to allow DR WELL to cross to the fence in the hope that he would be able to shift in and race to that horse’s outside. He added that approaching the winning post on the first occasion he still had five horses to his inside and felt that he would have had to make considerable use of HIGH INTELLIGENT to cross to race outside of DR WELL. He said he observed that SPIRIT OF LO PAN was being ridden along in the early stages to obtain a forward position and he did not believe he could cross that horse at that point of the race. He stated for this reason he elected to remain racing three wide in the hope that the tempo would slow up in the middle stages which would allow him the opportunity to press forward on HIGH INTELLIGENT. He said however the tempo remained solid throughout the race and accordingly he was left with no option but to race three wide without cover. When questioned regarding the disappointing performance of SOHNA, B Prebble stated that due to the horse’s good draw and the track appearing to favour horses on the pace during tonight’s race meeting, it was decided to obtain a more forward position on SOHNA. He said SOHNA travelled satisfactorily until the 700 Metres at which point the horse came off the bridle. He added SOHNA was disappointing in that it failed to respond to his riding in the Straight. He did say on return to the scale he noted the horse was making an abnormal breathing noise, but he did not hear this noise during the race. Trainer S Woods confirmed that the decision had been made to ride the horse in a more forward position due to the fact as instanced by B Prebble. He said the only reason he could put down to the poor performance tonight was the fact that the horse was ridden in a more forward position and that he believed the horse may have resented racing inside other horses. In the circumstances, the performance of SOHNA, a favourite for tonight’s race, was considered unacceptable. Before racing again, SOHNA will have to perform to the satisfaction of the Stewards in an official barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. A veterinary inspection of CARRY GOOD NEWS and SOHNA after the race did not show any significant findings. SOHNA, HARRY HARRY and REGENCY KINGDOM were sent for sampling.