HK OCT 01 - RISING STARS LIGHT UP SHA TIN AS THE GREAT ONE RETURNS

By Hong Kong Jockey Club | Saturday, October 2, 2010

Jockey Brett Prebble had another dream day at Sha Tin today as he partnered both champion Sacred Kingdom to a memorable comeback in the HKG3 Sha Tin Sprint Trophy and potential champion Lucky Nine to a spectacular triumph in the HKG3 National Day Cup.

It was a tribute to the scintillating performance of Lucky Nine, for whom the jockey had pared himself down to an absolute minimum 115lbs, that there was some doubt afterwards about which had been the easier of the two victories.

“For me it was the season’s first great day of racing,” said Hong Kong Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges.

“To see the performance of Sacred Kingdom was absolutely smashing. Passing a rocket like Sweet Sanette on the bridle was just remarkable.

“And then the three-year-old Lucky Nine was so thrilling too. It was the sort of display that makes you excited for the future.”

The saga of Sacred Kingdom’s brush with agonizing death on the tarmac at Hong Kong airport has made so many column inches in the last six months that environmentalists must have been thinking of a protest.

Now we can finally put the story to bed, because all the doubts about whether Hong Kong’s reigning Horse of the Year and the world’s finest sprinter of the last three years could possibly come back to his best are history.

“The champ is back,” cried commentator Darren Flindell as the topweight in the HKG3 Sha Tin Sprint Trophy moved up to take the lead from Sweet Sanette with 100m left.

But in fact he might have called it at least five seconds earlier as it was clear the front runners had simply been unable to hurry sprint racing’s presiding authority.

“That was beautiful,” said trainer Ricky Yiu. “And he was only about 80 per cent fit. We want to follow the trail we did last season and gradually peak him up as the season develops.”

Admittedly the brilliant Sweet Sanette, made favourite by fans swayed by the 18 lbs she was receiving, may have hindered her chance by proving reluctant to load, but really there was no questioning Sacred Kingdom’s supremacy.

Prebble settled him off the pace and he was never troubled, making ground effortlessly as the race progressed.

The second leg of the Prebble double was nearly as thrilling though.

In this case the pre-race question has been whether the Caspar Fownes trained three-year-old could match strides with his elders and (so far) betters on handicap terms.

The coming Lucky Nine answered that question as emphatically as possible, bursting clear 200m out to pull clear of champion miler and Hong Kong’s highest rated horse, Able One, for a three-and-three-quarter length victory.

“That was a nice effort,” said Caspar Fownes afterwards, displaying an unsuspected talent for understatement.

“It’s a pity we didn’t get the course record,” he added when it was pointed out that Lucky Nine had just missed out on equaling Flaming Lamborgini’s time in 2006 National Day Cup, “But you’ve got to be happy with that.”

Many will be eager to see the rapidly developing son of Dubawi take on the big boys in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile, but Fownes was not to be rushed.

“We’ll take a couple of weeks to think about that and then we’ll decide where he goes next.”

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