30/01/2019  Happy Valley  Race 4

FLYING FORCE was withdrawn on 29.1.19 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (lame left fore) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter CHAMPION’S WAY (J Moreira). Before being allowed to race again, FLYING FORCE will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. GOUTEN OF GARO shifted out at the start and bumped VERY RICH MAN. MY DEAR shifted out on jumping and bumped BESTA LUCK. MY DEAR then raced tight between BESTA LUCK and LOVE CHUNGHWA which shifted out. THE CREATETH was crowded for room on jumping between DOMINATOR and SHARPMIND which shifted in. In this incident, DOMINATOR became unbalanced when bumped on the hindquarters by THE CREATETH. From a wide barrier, SUPER LUCKY was steadied in the early stages and shifted across behind runners. Despite being vigorously ridden for some distance in the early stages, GOOD COMPANION was slow to muster speed and consequently travelled wide and without cover for the majority of the race. Approaching the 900 Metres, SUPER LUCKY commenced to travel very keenly and got its head up on a number of occasions when being checked away from the heels of THE CREATETH. Passing the 900 Metres, SUPER LUCKY shifted out away from the heels of THE CREATETH and inconvenienced SHARPMIND which was taken wider. After this, SUPER LUCKY continued to prove difficult to settle and passing the 800 Metres was awkwardly placed behind DOMINATOR. SUPER LUCKY again got its head up passing the 600 Metres when continuing to over-race and awkwardly placed close to the heels of DOMINATOR. Approaching the 400 Metres, MY DEAR got its head on the side and lay out towards the heels of GOOD COMPANION which shifted in marginally. In the Straight, BESTA LUCK (M Chadwick) hung in under pressure and proved difficult to ride and near the 50 Metres shifted in, resulting in THE CREATETH being crowded for room. M Chadwick was advised that whilst the Stewards acknowledged that BESTA LUCK was hanging in at this time, nonetheless he must make every endeavour to prevent his mounts from shifting in and crowding other runners. Also in the Straight, CHAMPION’S WAY raced greenly and passing the 250 Metres shifted in abruptly towards the heels of GOUTEN OF GARO. After the race, Z Purton stated that, in his opinion, the race was not run at a suitable tempo for SUPER LUCKY to be able to make ground. He said due to the tempo of race SUPER LUCKY proved difficult to settle at times and that the circumstances of the race were not to the advantage of the horse. A veterinary inspection of SUPER LUCKY immediately following the race did not show any significant findings, however, the horse was unable to be scoped due to being fractious. CHAMPION’S WAY and VERY RICH MAN were sent for sampling.