VOR, Bullish Luck to the Centenary Vase

[my miss storm cat]

02/02/2008 Sha Tin Track : Turf
Meeting No : 40 Course : "C+3" Course
Race Name : THE CENTENARY VASE (HANDICAP) Distance : 1800m
Race Class : HONG KONG GROUP 3
Sec./Div. No : 1
Rating Range : 090+

Horse (Brand No) Trainer Wt. WFA. Rtg. Rtg.+/- P Remarks
VENGEANCE OF RAIN (D142)
D E Ferraris 133 - 128 -1 -
BULLISH LUCK (C155)
A S Cruz 123 - 118 0 -
VITAL KING (G222)
P O'Sullivan 123 - 118 0 -
SIR ERNESTO (G051)
D Cruz 121 - 116 -2 -
VIVA MACAU (H110)
J Moore 119 - 114 -2 -
PACKING WINNER (E334)
L Ho 116 - 111 5 -
SYLLABUS (D388)
D E Ferraris 110 - 105 -2 -
FAMOUS DANCER (D353)
J Moore 107 - 102 -2 -
EVER BRIGHT (G223)
P O'Sullivan 104 - 99 -1 -
TOP HONOR (E183)
A Lee 102 - 97 0 -

[my miss storm cat]

Race 7 - THE CENTENARY VASE (HANDICAP)
Saturday, February 02, 2008, Sha Tin, 16:05
Turf ,"C+3" Course ,1800m

Prize Money: $2,300,000.00, Rating: 90+, Race Class: HONG KONG GROUP 3

HORSE Horse No. Name Brand No. Draw
Owner(s) Age Sex Rating
Rating+/- Handicap Weight Horse Wt. (Declaration) Wt.+/- (vs Declaration)
On Day Horse Wt. Wt.+/- (vs last race) Season Stakes Colour
Gear Import Cat. Sire Dam
Weight-For-Age Allowance

Horse No. Colour Horse Wt. Trainer Horse Wt. (Declaration) Rtg. Jockey Draw Brand No. Gear Rtg.+/- Wt.+/- (vs Declaration)
1 VENGEANCE OF RAIN 133 D E Ferraris 128 A Delpech 6 D142 TT -1 -
2 BULLISH LUCK 123 A S Cruz 118 C Soumillon 8 C155 B/XB 0 -
3 VITAL KING 123 P O'Sullivan 118 B Prebble 4 G222 B 0 -
4 SIR ERNESTO 121 D Cruz 116 O Doleuze 7 G051 SR -2 -
5 VIVA MACAU 119 J Moore 114 D Beadman 1 H110 SW/TT -2 -
6 PACKING WINNER 116 L Ho 111 F Coetzee 9 E334 5 -
7 SYLLABUS 113 D E Ferraris 105 Y T Cheng (-2) 2 D388 B/TT -2 -
8 FAMOUS DANCER 113 J Moore 102 C W Wong (-5) 5 D353 XB/H -2 -
9 TOP HONOR 113 A Lee 97 H W Lai (-3) 3 E183 0 -



B : Blinkers BO : Blinker with one cowl only E : Ear Plugs H : Hood
M : Muzzle P : Pacifier PC : Pacifier with cowls SR : Shadow Roll
SW : Side Winkers TT : Tongue Tie V : Visor SB: Sheepskin Browband
SO: Side Winker 1 side "1" : First time "2" : Replaced "-" : Removed
CC: Cornell Collar XB: Crossed Nose Band

Notes:
"Horse Wt. (Declaration)" : Horse weight on two days before the race day
"Wt.+/-(vs last race)" : Change of horse weight between race day and last race day
"Wt.+/-(vs Declarations)" : Change of horse weight between race day and declaration day
"Stakes Won" : Stakes acquired in current racing season

[my miss storm cat]

I'll just keep right on talking to myself here.

Damnit, Snowdrops? Gallant? Chestnut Gal? AJ?????

Oh well.

R1, Floral Joy 2 actually has a win but I'll take Happee Gift with Brettie up. Owner also has Hawkes Bay.

R2, no pick but Chestnut Gal's boy Captain Bunny finally has a good jock up..... he's seven years old but good things to those who wait and all of that.

R3, Bold Win / Magic Touch

4 and 5... who knows

R6, Sunny Golf (safe home, First knight. Never wins but he's been around for so long... gotta root him home. Maybe he'll be last again).

R9, my pick of the day... Jackpot Delight / Singing Dinners

R10, Super Baby and Go, Britannia who should be at big, fat odds.


The big race..... be still my heart, do well Bullish one but yeah, VOR, Vital King and the up-and-coming Packing Winner all are good.

Love and joy to the kindest horse in HK, Syllabus (you all know the story ), and to the very good Viva Macau who, sadly, is always entered in races a bit over his head. (He's reeeeally pretty, by the way).

If he does well, he goes to Dubai so fingers crossed.

Should be easy for Vengeance but.....

IF Bullish Luck fires everyone will be able to hear me sceaming from here to, well.... everywhere.

He was hurt, he's got nothing to prove to anyone and if he doesn't?

As Ms. Gallant would say, imha.

COME HOME SAFE GOOD BOYS!

[my miss storm cat]

I'm so sick of this balance crap.....

Apache Cat wins, Gold Edition gets retired.

BULLISH LUCK WON, Vengeance of Rain pulled up.

Thank you HKJC for your "here's a sight you don't want to see...."

Cheers to my old man, a true warrior.

Hope VOR is okay.

http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/r...eno=7&venue=ST



RACE 7(368)
Race Class: HK G3 - 1800 Metres - (090+)
THE CENTENARY VASE (HANDICAP)
HK$ 2,300,000.00

Course : Turf - "C+3" Course
Race Time : (14.00) (36.7) (1.00.7) (1.25.2) (1.48.9)
Sectional Time : 14.00 22.70 24.00 24.50 23.70


Placing Horse No. Horse Jockey Actual Wt. Draw Length
Behind
Winner Finishing
Time
1 2 BULLISH LUCK(C155) C Soumillon 123 8 - 1.48.90
2 3 VITAL KING(G222) B Prebble 123 4 3 1.49.40
3 5 VIVA MACAU(H110) D Beadman 119 1 4-1/4 1.49.60
4 6 PACKING WINNER(E334) F Coetzee 116 9 4-1/2 1.49.60
5 4 SIR ERNESTO(G051) O Doleuze 121 7 8 1.50.20
6 7 SYLLABUS(D388) E Wilson 113 2 9 1.50.40
7 9 TOP HONOR(E183) H W Lai 113-3 3 12-3/4 1.51.00
8 8 FAMOUS DANCER(D353) C W Wong 113-5 5 13 1.51.00
PU 1 VENGEANCE OF RAIN(D142) A Delpech 133 6 --- ---

Note: Special incidents index
Dividend
Pool Winning Combination Dividend (HK$)
WIN 2 92.00
PLACE 2 20.00
3 23.00
5 14.00
QUINELLA 2,3 408.50
QUINELLA PLACE 2,3 98.50
2,5 44.00
3,5 65.00
TIERCE 2,3,5 3,712.00
TRIO 2,3,5 309.00
FIRST 4 2,3,5,6 189.00
6TH DOUBLE 2,5/2 393.00
2,5/3 78.00
2ND DOUBLE TRIO 1,14>2,5/2,3,5 46,127.00


Racing Incident Report
FAMOUS DANCER began awkwardly, got its head up and lost a considerable amount of ground. Near the 1200 Metres, SIR ERNESTO was steadied and shifted behind SYLLABUS which at this time shifted to the outside of TOP HONOR. In the early part of the Straight, VIVA MACAU had difficulty obtaining clear running, then at the 300 Metres was momentarily steadied when awkwardly placed between SYLLABUS and TOP HONOR. After the 200 Metres, PACKING WINNER got its head on the side and hung in. A Delpech (VENGEANCE OF RAIN) said at no stage of today race did the horse stride out. He said he rode VENGEANCE OF RAIN along from shortly after the start until approaching the Home Turn, however, when the horse at that point failed to give any response, he eased his mount down in the Home Straight. VENGEANCE OF RAIN was sent for an official veterinary inspection. After the race, VENGEANCE OF RAIN was examined by the Veterinary Officer. He said the horse was displaying an irregular heart rhythm. As this is the second occasion on which VENGEANCE OF RAIN had suffered an irregular heart rhythm, the horse will be barred from racing for a period of 6 months and will be required to perform satisfactorily in an official barrier trial and be subjected to an official veterinary examination before being permitted to race again. PACKING WINNER, BULLISH LUCK and VITAL KING were sent for sampling.



Breed of the Winning Horse-Online
BULLISH LUCK Sire: Royal Academy
Dam: Wild Vintage

[my miss storm cat]

I just got an email from HK.....

He's been retired.

[my miss storm cat]

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Bullish Luck floors younger rivals
Even Cruz is taken by surprise after veteran handles soft track with utmost ease

MURRAY BELL


Bullish Luck, ridden by Christophe Soumillon, finishes well ahead of his rivals in the Centenary Vase. His closest challenger, Vital King, crossed the line three lengths behind the winner. Photos: Kenneth Chan

While one champion abdicated another confirmed his status as Bullish Luck swept unexpectedly to a runaway victory in the Group Three Centenary Vase and gave the upcoming Hong Kong Gold Cup a very bullish look indeed.
While 2007 Horse of the Year Vengeance Of Rain was retired from the race as a prelude to being retired from the game, it was left to the 2006 Horse of the Year to show the young guns a thing or two.

Bullish Luck seems to have been around for ages, and indeed he has. The American-bred son of Royal Academy first came to prominence winning the Hong Kong Gold Cup in 2004 and he'll now target the race again, four years down the track, on February 24.

Even trainer Tony Cruz was amazed as nine-year-old Bullish Luck came from last of the main pack, threaded his way through the field and raced away to score by three lengths from last year's Derby hero Vital King (Brett Prebble).

"He's an incredible horse and it's all the more amazing because he's had to overcome two separate injuries to even be here," Cruz said. "It all started when he was stripped from behind in the Dubai World Cup last year.

"He's had another [suspensory ligament] problem more recently but I really think they've been compensation injuries to his left leg, while he was looking after and protecting his right leg."

The greater part of the surprise with Bullish Luck was not so much that he won, because any horse that has won 10 races and HK$60.6 million is hard to underestimate. It's that he handled the yielding track conditions so adeptly, as Cruz has always maintained he's a hard-track horse.

"That's the part that has surprised me, but I guess the horse is evolving with age," Cruz said. "He's never enjoyed racing on soft tracks before but today, he has sprinted home like he always did on top of the ground."

The trainer made special acknowledgment of expatriate work rider Craig Peddie, who has been riding Bullish Luck in the majority of his morning work. "Craig's been doing a great job on Bullish Luck, and he was confident he'd race well, even with the wet," Cruz said.

The trainer said winning jockey Christophe Soumillon had accepted the ride on stablemate Bullish Cash, also owned by Wong Wing-keung, in the Gold Cup but would now be free to ride whichever one he pleased.

"I'll leave that to Christophe to choose, he's earned that," he added.

Bullish Luck has been a giant in Hong Kong racing, winning four Group Ones - the 2004 Gold Cup, the 2005 Stewards Cup and successive editions of the Champions Mile (2005-06). He also smashed Japan's best milers under Brett Prebble to win the 2006 Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo.

Soumillon is no stranger to Bullish Luck. It was he who partnered him to that spectacular last-to-first Stewards Cup win in 2005, as well as a fighting second to Super Kid in the Gold Cup the following month.

"I did not think I would have a ride in this race but when I saw Bullish Luck was entered, I rang Tony straight away," Soumillon said. "I am so happy because although this was not a Group One race today, he is very definitely a Group One horse and it was wonderful to feel that calibre of horse underneath me again.

"With everyone believing he could not handle softer tracks, naturally I was concerned, but in the race he travelled very strongly and was very sure in his footing. We were held up a little bit in the straight, waiting for a run but when it came he quickened up instantly and exploded away from them."

Bullish Luck completed a double for Cruz, who earlier welcomed the opening race winner Floral Joy II (Marco Chui Kwan-lai), a horse who gallops like a topliner but will be limited by an inoperable wind infirmity.

"It's very disappointing because he gallops like a horse with Class One ability," Cruz said. "But he is a grade three, left-side roarer and the vets say that's too bad to operate on. So the condition can get worse but he definitely cannot get any better."

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...ws20080203.asp