15/04/2020  Happy Valley  Race 2

PRINCE HARMONY was withdrawn on 14.4.20 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (lame right fore) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter FANTASTIC FABIO (V Borges). Before being allowed to race again, PRINCE HARMONY will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. SWEETLY BABY began awkwardly. ROCKET HAMMER was slow to begin. FIRST RESPONDER shifted in at the start and bumped the hindquarters of COMPASSION SPIRIT. From the outside barrier, LADY FIRST was steadied in the early stages to obtain cover. KING’S TROOPER was also steadied in the early stages to obtain cover. A short distance after the start, FIRST RESPONDER and ALL WONGCHOY bumped as a result of both horses shifting ground. This resulted in ALL WONGCHOY becoming badly unbalanced and FIRST RESPONDER being hampered. After this, ALL WONGCHOY was ridden along to obtain a forward position, however, failed to muster speed and then was left racing wide and without cover from the 900 Metres. Near the 1050 Metres, LADY FIRST and YEE CHEONG PEGASUS bumped, causing both horses to become unbalanced. Approaching and passing the 600 Metres, KING’S TROOPER commenced to travel keenly and was steadied away from the heels of SWEETLY BABY. MULTIMAX made the turn after the 600 Metres awkwardly and shifted out towards the heels of MONKEY JEWELLERY. After being disappointed for running between FANTASTIC FABIO and MONKEY JEWELLERY at the 300 Metres, MULTIMAX was shifted to the inside of FANTASTIC FABIO passing the 250 Metres to obtain clear running. When questioned, Apprentice C Wong stated that he was instructed to lead on MULTIMAX, however, if another horse showed more speed than MULTIMAX, it was permissible for him to take a trailing position behind that horse. He said after beginning awkwardly he rode MULTIMAX hard for some distance in the early stages to clear runners to his inside and shift across to race on the rail which he was able to do near the 1000 Metres. He said FANTASTIC FABIO was ridden along to obtain the lead from a wide barrier and showed more speed than MULTIMAX in the early stages. He said, given the amount of work he had had to do on MULTIMAX to clear runners to his inside, he felt that it was in the best interests of the horse not to continue to ride his mount along to maintain his position inside FANTASTIC FABIO and therefore he elected to take a trailing position behind that horse. A veterinary inspection of KING’S TROOPER, ALL WONGCHOY and ROCKET HAMMER immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. COMPASSION SPIRIT and YEE CHEONG PEGASUS were sent for sampling.