21/10/2020  Happy Valley  Race 2

On arrival at the Start, SWEETLY BABY, which kicked a rail when leaving the Parade Ring, was examined by the Veterinary Officer who said the hors was suitable to race. Shortly after the start, JOY AVENUE and MY FAMILY bumped. From wide barriers, WONDER WIN, WONDERFUL TIGER and KEEP WINNING were shifted across behind runners in the early stages. Near the 1600 Metres, MY FAMILY, which was being hard ridden, was steadied away from the heels of KANBEKI MOLLY which shifted out. Then after being continued to be ridden along in an endeavour to obtain a forward position, MY FAMILY was left racing wide and without cover passing the 1300 Metres. At the 850 Metres, WONDERFUL TIGER commenced to travel very keenly and got its head up approaching the 800 Metres when being checked away from the heels of SWEETLY BABY. After this, WONDERFUL TIGER was awkwardly placed behind SWEETLY BABY for some distance. At the entrance to the Straight, POLYMER LUCK was bumped by WINNERS BROTHER which attempted to shift to the outside of TREASURE CHEST. This resulted in WINNERS BROTHER, in particular, becoming unbalanced. Also at the entrance to the Straight, WONDER WIN was shifted to the inside of SWEETLY BABY after being unable to improve outside that horse and inside WONDERFUL TIGER. WONDER WIN was then checked away from the heels of SWEETLY BABY after the 200 Metres. Approaching the 200 Metres, JOY AVENUE raced in restricted room inside KANBEKI MOLLY which lay in when giving ground. Approaching the 100 Metres, N Callan (NITRO EXPRESS) dropped his right rein. In the Straight, WONDERFUL TIGER lay in under pressure and proved difficult to ride. The Stewards deferred the declaration of weighed-in as they were of the view that an incident had occurred near the 150 Metres which cast sufficient doubt as to whether TREASURE CHEST (V Borges) should be declared the 2nd placegetter. Subsequently M L Yeung, the rider of WINNERS BROTHER, which finished 3rd, lodged a protest/objection against TREASURE CHEST being declared the 2nd placegetter alleging interference near the 150 Metres. After taking evidence from all parties concerned and after viewing the videos, it was found that TREASURE CHEST shifted out abruptly passing the 150 Metres, resulting in WINNERS BROTHER shifting out away from the heels of that horse and making heavy contact with POLYMER LUCK, causing WINNERS BROTHER to lose ground when unbalanced and POLYMER LUCK to be checked when crowded for room inside VIRTUS STAR. Having regard to where the incident took place, the relative positions of the two horses leading up to and during the incident, the manner in which both horses finished off the race and the margin between the horses at the end of the race, the Stewards were satisfied that if not for the interference caused by TREASURE CHEST near the 150 Metres, WINNERS BROTHER would have finished in front of that horse. Accordingly, the protest/objection was sustained and the placings amended to read No. 12, VIRTUS STAR, 1st; No. 11, WINNERS BROTHER , 2nd; No. 9, TREASURE CHEST , 3rd; and No. 4, POLYMER LUCK, 4th. At a subsequent inquiry, the Stewards found that V Borges had reacted as quickly as possible to the sudden movement outwards from TREASURE CHEST which until this point had been maintaining a straight course when being ridden out with the whip in the right hand and, accordingly, no further action was taken. After the race, J Moreira was not able to offer any explanation for the disappointing performance of SWEETLY BABY. He said after shifting across to race behind the eventual winner VIRTUS STAR in the early stages, his mount did not travel well and was reluctant to hold its position behind that horse after the 1100 Metres. He said he therefore shifted SWEETLY BABY out from behind that horse to follow MY FAMILY in the hope that it would travel better. He added SWEETLY BABY continued to race off the bridle and after being under heavy pressure before the 600 Metres did not finish off the race. A veterinary inspection of SWEETLY BABY immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. A veterinary inspection of MY FAMILY immediately following the race found that horse to have bled from both nostrils. A veterinary inspection of WONDERFUL TIGER immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. VIRTUS STAR and WINNERS BROTHER were sent for sampling.