30/04/2023  Shatin  Race 7

GLORIOUS DRAGON was withdrawn on 29.4.23 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (lame right fore). Before being allowed to race again, GLORIOUS DRAGON will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. AEGON was slow to begin. The performance of HEALTHY HAPPY, which finished tailed out, was considered unacceptable. Before being allowed to race again, HEALTHY HAPPY 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 HEALTHY HAPPY immediately following the race did not show any significant findings. When questioned regarding his riding of VOYAGE BUBBLE and the reason VOYAGE BUBBLE was obliged to race wide and without cover for the majority of the event, A Badel stated that his instructions were to settle his mount where comfortable but expected holding a forward position. He said in the early stages when positioned behind and to the outside of CALIFORNIA SPANGLE, when CALIFORNIA SPANGLE remained racing one off the fence, he was content in holding that position with a view to following CALIFORNIA SPANGLE across as he expected that runner to shift to the rail. He said when CALIFORNIA SPANGLE remained racing away from the rail in the early stages, he was concerned that HEALTHY HAPPY, which was positioned to the inside of CALIFORNIA SPANGLE, would allow CALIFORNIA SPANGLE to cross and then HEALTHY HAPPY would endeavour to obtain a position to the outside of CALIFORNIA SPANGLE. He said for this reason he maintained his position to the outside of CALIFORNIA SPANGLE to prevent such a manoeuvre. When questioned if there was an opportunity to hold a position directly behind CALIFORNIA SPANGLE in the early stages which would have afforded VOYAGE BUBBLE a position one off the rail, A Badel stated that as he had always expected CALIFORNIA SPANGLE to shift to the rail, he did not contemplate obtaining this position and further as he had explained previously, he was concerned that if did so, HEALTHY HAPPY would take his mount three deep. He further stated that he had not expected GOLDEN SIXTY to improve to his inside near the 1100 Metres and was surprised when its rider, C Y Ho, obtained such a position. Trainer P F Yiu confirmed the instructions were to obtain a forward position, however, expressed dissatisfaction with A Badel’s tactics in the early stages whereby he had not taken up a position one-off the rail behind CALIFORNIA SPANGLE. After considering his explanation, the Stewards advised Jockey Badel that he had made an error of judgement in the early stages in not positioning his mount initially directly behind CALIFORNIA SPANGLE to take up the position one-off the rail and secondly his riding thereafter lacked awareness in that he did not position VOYAGE BUBBLE closer to CALIFORNIA SPANGLE to prevent GOLDEN SIXTY from being able to improve to his inside. The Stewards further advised Jockey Badel that he would be expected to show far greater judgement in future, however, they elected not to take any further action as they could not be satisfied that his riding of VOYAGE BUBBLE had impacted on its finishing position. After the race, AEGON was noted to have blood at the left nostril. An endoscopic examination conducted on AEGON found that there was no blood in its trachea and therefore the horse was deemed not to have bled. A veterinary inspection of MY OBERON immediately following the race which included an endoscopic examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse’s trachea. VOYAGE BUBBLE, GOLDEN SIXTY and BEAUTY JOY were sent for sampling.