17/12/2016  Shatin  Race 3

SECRET COMMAND began awkwardly, shifted in and bumped the hindquarters of EROICO which became unbalanced. Passing the winning post on the first occasion, HAPPY SURVEYS raced tight between GONNA RUN and HARBOUR MASTER. When questioned, Apprentice K K Chiong stated that, from the outside barrier, she had been asked to ride HIT THE BID quietly. She said when steadying the horse in the early stages to shift across behind runners, HIT THE BID initially proved difficult to settle and then after the 1200 Metres came off the bridle and appeared to be resenting the kickback. She said she had to ride her mount along for some distance in the middle stages in order to have it join the main body of the field. She said HIT THE BID did not respond to her riding and did not finish off the race. As Mr A T Millard, the trainer of HIT THE BID was not in attendance of today’s racemeeting, the Stewards questioned Ms W S Yu, assistant trainer allocated to Mr Millard’s stable. She said she received instructions from Mr Millard to have HIT THE BID ridden quietly because of the outside barrier in an endeavour to have it close off the race rather than being used up to be ridden in a forward position. Having regard to the anticipated moderate tempo of the race, the Stewards believed it appropriate to interview Mr Millard upon his return to Hong Kong and prior to HIT THE BID being entered to race again. A veterinary inspection of HIT THE BID immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. A veterinary inspection of HAPPY SURVEYS immediately following the race did not show any significant findings, however, the horse was unable to be scoped due to being fractious. EROICO and PACKING LLAREGYB were sent for sampling.