Hong Kong 2013-14

[my miss storm cat]

Maybe this season instead of one extreme or the other (20 millions posts about who went for a swim, etc. vs the lack of posts like last season) I can find some happy medium.

Anyway the barrier trials have begun, WEB ( ) is blogging once again, the incoming trio of jocks (Colm O’Donoghue, Karis Teetan and Nicola Pinna.) are surely getting situated... and then there's this...

Not that I need an excuse to post it but oh Tony how you've changed.

Check this out!!!!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Hope he visited Bullish Luck as well and oh my God I am still waiting for a picture of the former stable mates together. Looks like I will have to go and do it myself!

Opening day aka Christmas is September 8th!!!

[my miss storm cat]

Zac works his magic on the older guys...Fair Trade...

"I know it's only a Class Two today but it is so rewarding when you get these old horses home

... AND Cerise Cherry...

"Cerise Cherry was the first horse I rang for when I got back to Hong Kong this season, There was no doubt he should have won this race last year. I was lucky enough to get the ride."

Lucky Nine ambles around Happy Valley for the first time (with Brett) as it's apparently similar to Moonee Valley (and he'll be heading off for the Manikato and Patinack)...

[Merlinsky]

So Lines of Battle has been exported to Hong Kong and will now race as Helene Super Star apparently. I've never been a fan of changing a horse's name after they've won graded or group stakes, but it seems to happen in Saudi Arabia and now Hong Kong.

[my miss storm cat]

Yeah I wish they wouldn't change names too but what can you do.

Thanks for the news!

[Patrick333]

Dunaden added to Hong Kong Vase lineup

Two past winners of the Hong Kong Vase will now line up for the 2400-meter contest December 8 following the inclusion of Dunaden in the field of 14.

http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/edito...e.cgi?id=41407

[my miss storm cat]

HKIR minisite...
http://campaign.hkjc.com/en/2013-hki..._cid=1314LHKIR

Arrival of the Americans...

On their 6 hour delay...
http://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/art...ival-hong-kong

Little Mike:
http://corporate.hkjc.com/news_image...e_MG_9553s.jpg

King Kreesa:
http://corporate.hkjc.com/news_image...a_MG_9545s.jpg

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

So Lines of Battle has been exported to Hong Kong and will now race as Helene Super Star apparently. I've never been a fan of changing a horse's name after they've won graded or group stakes, but it seems to happen in Saudi Arabia and now Hong Kong.

Too much info but here goes:

I stopped following HK the night of the big intl races... I never bothered watching the replays and haven't checked ANYTHING but went to look at the Singapore Turf Club to see what mounts David Flores has on the 1st of the year. Those races weren't up yet but the New Years Day card for HK was and so figured he might debut over there...

Lucky horse has Matt Chadwick up.

http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/info/m...20140101/ST/11

Good luck to him.

You can listen on the site and the replay will be up immediately.

I won't be looking, posting the results, replay, any of it. I do hope he wins though. (Not a great field, for the record).

[my miss storm cat]

He was last. Didn't watch it but here...
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/Info/m...20140101/ST/11

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Too much info but here goes:

I stopped following HK the night of the big intl races... I never bothered watching the replays and haven't checked ANYTHING.

... because of this horse.

... and though I cannot bear to follow along I did know the horse who almost made me quit racing entirely was entered last night cause of twitter.

Honestly (and thank God no on actually looks at this thread but I have to say it somewhere)... honestly I thought he would either get hurt or win.

VERY happy he won and now I hope they do not assume he's indestructible.

Lucky Nine.

I believe Mr. Cox wouldn't mind at all posting the entire piece.

Lucky Nine defies niggles to win an emotional second Chairman's Sprint Prize

Michael Cox
michael.cox@scmp.com

Caspar Fownes and Brett Prebble show their admiration for Lucky Nine after his tenacious victory in the Chairman's Sprint Prize. Photo: Kenneth Chan

With a coat that had him looking like a woolly mammoth, an injured leg too sensitive to touch and a misshapen hoof, there was a time not too long ago that Lucky Nine didn't even look like running in Sunday's Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) - let alone winning first-up after a two-month break.

Lucky Nine's litany of problems have been well documented throughout his spectacular career, but trainer Caspar Fownes revealed the setbacks suffered in the lead-up to the seven-year-old's sixth Group One win were considerable, even by his standards, and had the horseman finding a new level of admiration for his warrior.

"I was very emotional - and I don't get like that often - but yeah, I was choked up, and that was the reaction from a lot of the staff, too. We have worked long hours to get him out there," Fownes said after a tenacious victory typical of the plain-looking gelding's style.

"He had swelling in his tendon sheath, his feet were terrible and his coat was shocking. It's taken a lot of TLC, working on him every night, but for a while there was a chance he wasn't even going to run in this race. It was only a week ago we were working his leg, he was just too sensitive, and you couldn't even touch him."

"It was a test - it kept me on my toes, and the team worked hard. I had the boys working overtime, getting in early, leaving late, and doing everything we could. In the end he just tries, and he gives you everything. He may not have won by far, but that is what he does."

Lucky Nine, third favourite at 5.9, fought off a late challenge from Charles The Great, with even money favourite Sterling City a desperately unlucky third and Frederick Engels - who loomed on the outside of the winner - finishing fourth.

Jockey Brett Prebble has been on Lucky Nine in each of his top-level wins, but admitted he felt it might be too much this time for a horse he calls "a character".

"This might have been the most emotional I've been after a win. It meant a lot to me. I didn't think he was going to win when they came to him, but he just defies them," Prebble said. "Once he gets a neck in front he finds a way to win - he is a courageous horse. They had their chance and I thought they were going to run him down."

After Lucky Nine became the first horse since Silent Witness (2004-05) to win back-to-back editions of the race, Fownes will now consider his options for the globetrotter.

A return tilt at the Group One Golden Shaheen in Dubai or the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen in Japan - both races over 1,200m on the last weekend of March - are on the table, but staying closer to home with a run in the Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) on March 16 seems more likely.

Wherever he ends up, Fownes said he will be better for Sunday's memorable effort. "He is going to improve for that - he has gone around at 80 or 85 per cent," he said.

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...s20140217a.asp