20/11/2019  Happy Valley  Race 9

On arrival at the Start, H T Mo expressed concern regarding the action of ROMAN IMPERO. After the necessary consultations, the Veterinary Officer said that, in his opinion, ROMAN IMPERO was suitable to race. After the race, the Veterinary Officer reported that ROMAN IMPERO had sustained a small laceration to the outside of the left hind fetlock. HARRIER JET was checked on jumping when crowded for room between ROMAN IMPERO and FORZA ANGEL which shifted in after being bumped by WINNING METHOD (G van Niekerk). In this incident, both FORZA ANGEL and ROMAN IMPERO were hampered. G van Niekerk will be reprimanded and told that whilst the horse did jump in at the start, nonetheless he has an obligation to straighten his mounts in order to ensure that they do not cause interference to other runners. From the outside barrier, SHINING ACE was shifted across behind runners in the early stages. Approaching the 1100 Metres, ROMAN IMPERO shifted out, resulting in FORZA ANGEL being crowded for room inside WINNING METHOD which became unbalanced when bumped on the hindquarters by FORZA ANGEL. A short distance later, ROMAN IMPERO was steadied away from the heels of LONE EAGLE which was taken out marginally by INTERSTELLAR. Approaching the 700 Metres, INTERSTELLAR momentarily raced in restricted room inside LONE EAGLE which was awkwardly placed inside the heels of HAPPY TIME. Near the 650 Metres, INTERSTELLAR and AURORA PEGASUS raced tight. Passing the 400 Metres, LONE EAGLE momentarily raced tight inside WINNING METHOD. When being shifted to the outside of HAPPY TIME shortly after entering the Straight, SOLOMON’S BAY lay in and was reluctant to shift to the outside of that horse which resulted in SOLOMON’S BAY striking the heels of HAPPY TIME and stumbling near the 250 Metres and consequently losing ground. Throughout the race, WINNING METHOD travelled wide and without cover. The Stewards deferred the declaration of weighed-in to establish whether contact between SHINING ACE and AURORA PEGASUS, the dead heat winners for this race, should proceed to a formal protest/objection hearing. Prior to the Stewards giving consideration to the matter, Mr C Fownes, the trainer of AURORA PEGASUS and A Badel, the rider of that horse, viewed the videos and elected not to enter a protest/objection. It was established that SHINING ACE had come from some distance behind AURORA PEGASUS to improve to that horse’s outside approaching the 50 Metres. It was further found that passing the 50 Metres SHINING ACE shifted in and made minimal contact with AURORA PEGASUS. The two horses then finished off the race without any further contact. As the Stewards formed the view that contact between the two horses was slight and had no bearing on the outcome of the race, they elected not to proceed to a formal protest/objection hearing and declared weighed-in on the numbers semaphored by the Judge. The Stewards will question K Teetan regarding the disappointing performance of HAPPY TIME which weakened in the Straight to finish at the rear of the field prior to the Sha Tin racemeeting on Saturday, 23 November 2019. In the meantime, the performance of HAPPY TIME, a last start winner, was considered unacceptable. Before being allowed to race again, HAPPY TIME will be required to perform to the satisfaction of the Stewards in a barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination. A veterinary inspection of HAPPY TIME immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. A veterinary inspection of LONE EAGLE immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. LONE EAGLE, SHINING ACE and AURORA PEGASUS were sent for sampling. <1/12/2019 20 November 2019 Happy Valley Racemeeting – Race 9 (188)>The Stewards today interviewed K Teetan regarding the poor performance of HAPPY TIME. He said he was given two sets of instructions on how HAPPY TIME should be ridden, the first being to obtain a forward position if the horse began well. He said however that if HAPPY TIME was slow to begin as it had done in some of its previous races, he was told to ride the horse quietly. He said it was anticipated that WINNING METHOD, which was drawn directly inside of HAPPY TIME, would take up a forward position and that if HAPPY TIME began well he would follow that horse across to obtain a forward position. He said HAPPY TIME began satisfactorily and therefore he elected to commit to obtain a forward position. He said HAPPY TIME began better than WINNING METHOD and he attempted to cross that horse in the early stages, however, WINNING METHOD remained racing inside the hindquarters of HAPPY TIME. He said making the turn after the 1100 Metres HAPPY TIME was racing very wide, however, by this time he had committed to going forward and it was not a reasonable option for him to steady HAPPY TIME in an attempt to obtain cover. He said he therefore had to continue to press forward and it was not until after the 700 Metres that he was able to shift across to race into a position closer to the inside rail. He said because it took so long to obtain a forward position he was then not able to give HAPPY TIME a breather during the middle stages and HAPPY TIME then came under pressure prior to the 400 Metres and weakened in the Straight. He added, in his opinion, the performance of the horse could be solely attributable to the amount of use that he had to make of HAPPY TIME in the early and middle stages.