15/12/2021  Happy Valley  Race 1

MELBOURNE HALL and NOBLE BOYZ bumped at the start. MEGA BONUS began awkwardly and then was crowded for room between SURE WIN WIN and UNIVERSAL GO GO, both of which shifted ground. In this incident, all three horses became badly unbalanced. SURE WIN WIN then shifted in and was steadied away from the heels of HERCULES. LUCKY MARYKNOLL shifted out at the start, resulting in MASTER ALBERT being crowded for room inside BEAUTY AMIGO. After this, from a wide barrier, MASTER ALBERT was shifted across behind runners to obtain cover. From the outside barrier, KOKUSHI MUSOU was also steadied in the early stages and shifted across behind runners. BEAUTY AMIGO lost its left front plate approaching the 1000 Metres. After the 900 Metres, LUCKY MARYKNOLL was left racing wide and without cover. Passing the 700 Metres, SURE WIN WIN improved to be awkwardly placed inside the heels of HERCULES. Approaching the 600 Metres, MELBOURNE HALL, which was travelling keenly as the tempo slackened, shifted out when awkwardly placed close to the heels of MEGA BONUS. When MELBOURNE HALL shifted out, LUCKY MARYKNOLL was inconvenienced. HERCULES, which was following MELBOURNE HALL, improved into tight running inside that horse when MELBOURNE HALL shifted out. Then when MELBOURNE HALL resumed its position one horse off the rail, HERCULES was taken in, causing SURE WIN WIN to be steadied when crowded for room and HERCULES to be hampered. As the Stewards were of the opinion that this incident occurred as a result of MELBOURNE HALL shifting out momentarily away from the heels of MEGA BONUS and HERCULES improving its position of its own accord to be racing tight inside MELBOURNE HALL rather than the rider of HERCULES riding his mount into that position, they were satisfied that there was no rider carelessness associated with this incident and accordingly no further action was taken. NOBODY KNOWS got its head on the side and made the turn after the 600 Metres awkwardly. Passing the 500 Metres, MEGA BONUS shifted out away from the heels of CIRCUIT BOOMING and bumped LUCKY MARYKNOLL. HERCULES lay in under pressure during the latter stages of the race. A veterinary inspection of UNIVERSAL GO GO immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. MELBOURNE HALL, MEGA BONUS and HERCULES were sent for sampling.