14/12/2011  Happy Valley  Race 5

SMART FORTUNE was slow to begin. Near the 1000 Metres, SMART FORTUNE was steadied away from the heels of POTENTIAL which itself was awkwardly placed close to the heels of MY BEST CHOICE. After the 500 Metres, SMART FORTUNE was taken wider by EASY GOLD which, after shifting out to improve, was itself taken wider by POTENTIAL. After the 200 Metres, GILDED FLIGHT shifted out, resulting in MAGNANIMOUS being taken wider. Then passing the 100 Metres, after initially being taken out by BILLION, GILDED FLIGHT shifted out further and bumped the hindquarters of MAGNANIMOUS, resulting in both horses becoming unbalanced. Throughout the race, GILDED FLIGHT travelled wide and without cover. When questioned regarding his riding of HOME WITH GLORY, B Doyle stated that due to the manner in which the horse had over-raced in its previous starts, he was asked to have it racing away from the fence. He said in particular at its most recent start the horse had over-raced badly after the 1200 Metres until near the 600 Metres and had clipped the heels of runners in front on a number of occasions. He said because of this connections did not want HOME WITH GLORY racing on the fence in amongst runners in case the horse raced in a similar manner. He said after being slow to begin, he rode HOME WITH GLORY along in the hope of obtaining a position with cover behind midfield. He said approaching the winning post on the first occasion he allowed HOME WITH GLORY to improve its position to be racing outside the heels of MAGNANIMOUS which at this time was racing in a three wide position. He said as MAGNANIMOUS had room to its inside, he had anticipated that that horse would be shifted in to obtain the position one horse off the fence behind POTENTIAL which would allow HOME WITH GLORY the opportunity to race in a three wide position with cover behind GILDED FLIGHT. He said however that passing the winning post on the first occasion MAGNANIMOUS maintained its position to the outside of POTENTIAL which resulted in HOME WITH GLORY travelling in a four wide position. He added that near the 1000 Metres GILDED FLIGHT was able to shift in to a position three wide which resulted in HOME WITH GLORY remaining in a four wide position without cover. He said that after the 1000 Metres when it became apparent to him that he would be left racing wide and without cover, he elected to shift HOME WITH GLORY in behind MAGNANIMOUS, however, HOME WITH GLORY was travelling too strongly and he was not able to shift that horse behind MAGNANIMOUS. He said due to these factors, HOME WITH GLORY travelled wide and without cover after the 1000 Metres and in the Straight gave ground. B Doyle was advised that his riding of HOME WITH GLORY had lacked judgement and was not up to the standard expected of a senior rider in Hong Kong. He was also advised that he had erred in not shifting HOME WITH GLORY behind MAGNANIMOUS approaching the winning post on the first occasion which would have provided HOME WITH GLORY with cover. B Doyle was further advised to ensure that he rides his mounts in such a manner so that they do not cover unnecessary ground and are consequently able to finish off their race. A veterinary inspection of HOME WITH GLORY, SMART FORTUNE and POTENTIAL after the race did not show any significant findings. EASY GOLD and MAGNANIMOUS were sent for sampling.