Ferraris savours Sweet victory in Classic Mile

Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges thanked the “extremely loyal fans” after a passionate crowd of 78,136 braved the biting cold and rain to enjoy an enthralling afternoon of racing, the day’s highlight being a thrilling climax to the HKG1 Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile. Despite the inclement weather, the 11-race card returned the second highest turnover in the past nine years.

“Looking at the coldest Chinese New Year in 16 years, having over 78,000 of our fans coming to the races is an extremely good start to the year,” said Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges. “We were a little bit down on last year’s figure, which I think is understandable. Turnover today was HK$1.22 billion, which was also a little under last year, by 3%, but I think one has to again consider the impact of the weather - it is still the second best turnover for nine years. We think it is a very satisfactory start to the year of the ‘ice’ dragon.”

Sweet Orange showed great heart and plenty of class as he rallied to triumph over favourite Fay Fay in a thrilling climax to the day’s feature contest, the HKG1 Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile, the 1st Leg of the 2012 Four-Year-Old Series.

The War Front colt ended a G1 barren spell for trainer David Ferraris - stretching back to Vengeance Of Rain’s 2007 Dubai Sheema Classic win - as he rallied late off a muddling pace to score by a neck under Weichong Marwing.

“It feels tremendous because I’ve had a poor season, particularly so with all the close seconds I’ve had,” said Ferraris. “Sweet Orange has had no luck in his last few races and it’s been heartbreaking, but he’s a courageous horse that just keeps improving – he’s top-class. Importantly, he had the right rider. Weichong galloped the horse on Sunday and he told me he wasn’t concerned about what was running because he said I had the horse 100 per cent.”

Sweet Orange was one of eight runners in the field of 10 holding a HKG1 Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby (3rd Leg of the Four-Year-Old series) entry, and Ferraris is eyeing that race as well as the 1800m HKG1 Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Cup (2nd Leg of the Four-Year-Old series) on 19 February.

“The 2000m will be his absolute game,” opined the trainer. “I think he will run in the 1800m and then go to the Derby. There aren’t too many races for him so I think I’ll keep him to his own company.”

A delighted Marwing commented: “This has been great for David because he has had a bit of a lean spell. I’ve always believed in this horse and I think he is a horse that has a lot of improvement in him - he is certainly up to at least Group 1 level in Hong Kong. He settles beautifully, so if they were to go an even tempo over 2000m, I don’t see why he shouldn’t at least be able to run home.”

Fay Fay was edged out in the pulsating duel to the line after looking the likely winner with 300m to race, but trainer John Size was pleased with the effort. “I thought Fay Fay ran very well,” he said. “Sweet Orange handled conditions well and probably has a bit better sprint in the finish - on the day, the winner just out-pointed him.”

John Moore saddled Admiration and Derby hope Smart Giant to finish third and fourth, respectively, as Sweet Orange stopped the clock at 1m 37.64s.

Size gained some compensation when Glorious Days maintained his unbeaten record to land the 1400m Chinese New Year Cup (Class 1 handicap) by a short-head from Bullish Champion. The four-year-old clawed back his rival with a determined stretch run under Douglas Whyte that saw him prevail in the final stride.

“He struggled to win today,” noted Size. “I thought the track condition might have been worrying him a little bit – he didn’t seem to be travelling in the ground to me. I’ll have to check but I don’t think there are any races for him between now and the Group 1 on 4 March, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.”

Kung Hei Fat Choy is the customary salutation around Chinese New Year, so it was most apt that a horse of that name finally broke his maiden at Sha Tin’s Chinese New Year raceday.

Trained by Richard Gibson, Kung Hei Fat Choi was making his 15th Hong Kong start in the day’s fifth race, the 1800m Yue Yee Handicap, and the five-year-old gelding rewarded many of the 70,000-plus crowd that had supported him, with a determined and most topical first career victory under jockey Greg Cheyne.