04/05/2016  Happy Valley  Race 6

GRACYDAD began awkwardly. FLYING FORCE began awkwardly and shortly after the start was bumped by VICTORY DAY which shifted in. TRAVEL SUCCESSOR shifted in at the start and bumped HARBOUR ALERT. In the early stages, BREEDERS’ STAR and DASHING CERAMIBO were steadied from wide barriers and shifted across behind runners. Near the 650 Metres, FORTUNE BO BO (K C Leung) shifted in and bumped TRAVEL SUCCESSOR. FORTUNE BO BO then became badly unbalanced and, despite the efforts of its rider, lay in, resulting in TRAVEL SUCCESSOR losing ground when crowded for room outside VICTORY DAY approaching the 600 Metres. After the race, K C Leung stated that FORTUNE BO BO continued to hang in for the remainder of the race after this incident. VICTORY DAY lost its right front plate at the 450 Metres. When questioned, B Prebble (HARBOUR ALERT) stated that in pre-race discussions with Mr P O’Sullivan, it was agreed that there was good pace in the race with BUDDY BUNDY being drawn an inside barrier and DIAMOND MASTER being drawn outside. He said it was therefore felt that there was an opportunity for HARBOUR ALERT to obtain the position one out and one back following DIAMOND MASTER which would allow the horse the opportunity to finish off its race. He said it was felt that in a number of its previous starts the horse had failed to finish off the race after leading and the composition of tonight’s field provided HARBOUR ALERT with the opportunity to obtain a position with cover behind the leaders. He added, as anticipated, HARBOUR ALERT was able to obtain a position one horse off the rail outside MR RIGHT following DIAMOND MASTER. He added after initially commencing to finish off the race only fairly in the early part of the Straight, HARBOUR ALERT responded well to his riding and then closed off solidly. Mr O’Sullivan confirmed that it was intended for HARBOUR ALERT to be ridden behind the likely leaders, namely BUDDY BUNDY and DIAMOND MASTER and that he was pleased with the manner in which the horse finished off the race when ridden in this manner. When questioned, K C Leung stated that as there were a number of horses engaged in the race which were drawn more favourably than FORTUNE BO BO and which had shown good speed in their previous races, it was felt that were FORTUNE BO BO to be ridden along from the outside barrier, that horse would be left racing wide. He said he was therefore asked to shift the horse across behind runners and obtain a position with cover if possible. A veterinary inspection of BUDDY BUNDY immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. FLYING FORCE, DIAMOND MASTER and HARBOUR ALERT were sent for sampling.