Manfred Man is optimistic Lucky Sweynesse can secure G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) triumph at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 February) to further erase memories of the star speedster\u2019s frustrating G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) experience.<\/p>
Sent off a short-priced favourite in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint on 11 December, Lucky Sweynesse was badly held up for clear running in finishing sixth behind 2021\/22 Hong Kong Champion Sprinter Wellington, who again looms as a major obstacle this Sunday.<\/p>
With 21 wins for the season so far, 65-year-old Man craves elite achievement with a horse he rates at least the equal of any other galloper he has trained and he is keen to move on from Lucky Sweynesse\u2019s most recent G1 assignment.<\/p>
\u201cIt was just bad luck. In the straight he was just stuck inside but racing is racing \u2013 what can you say?\u201d Man mused. \u201cEverything is fine with Lucky Sweynesse. He\u2019s on fire.\u201d<\/span><\/p> Lucky Sweynesse rebounded strongly with G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m) victory on 1 January, while restoring the confidence of Man, who won the Centenary Sprint Cup in 2012 and 2013 with Eagle Regiment.<\/span><\/p> Pitted against seven rivals this weekend, Lucky Sweynesse starts from barrier eight under Zac Purton, while Wellington will seek a fifth Group 1 victory after jumping from gate five for Alexis Badel.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8180″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] In a field crammed with quality, Sight Success (Vagner Borges) has gate two, Sky Field (Hugh Bowman) begins from barrier six, Super Wealthy (Lyle Hewitson) has the inside alley, Duke Wai (Harry Bentley) jumps from three, Courier Wonder (Luke Currie) steps from gate four and Master Eight (Karis Teetan) is in barrier seven.<\/p> Planning an overseas campaign for 2021 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint victor Sky Field, Caspar Fownes concedes Wellington and Lucky Sweynesse are the clear measuring sticks.<\/p> \u201cSky Field seems to be well within himself. Obviously, the two top sprinters (Wellington and Lucky Sweynesse) in Hong Kong will be there again on Sunday and it\u2019s always going to be tough to compete against them, but he\u2019s not far off them so when things go right one day and pan out, he could beat them,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p> \u201cThey seem to be that length above him at this stage, but he\u2019s in good form, he\u2019s well and I\u2019m more looking to take him away to Dubai for the straight six (G1 Al Quoz Sprint, 1200m on 25 March), to tell you the truth. I think that\u2019s going to be something he will really like.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8179″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Senor Toba will attempt to enhance international prospects when he contests the G3 Centenary Vase Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin this Sunday (5 February) after Fownes entered the grey in the QAT G1 H.H. The Amir Trophy (2400m) at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha, Qatar on 18 February.<\/p> \u201cHe races this weekend in a small field over 1800 metres, which is quite sharp for him but, in saying that, I\u2019m confident he will run really well even though this race is about three furlongs short of what he requires,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p> \u201cWe\u2019re really looking to this race on Sunday and then looking forward to Doha. He\u2019s also been entered for Dubai and if he runs extremely well in Doha, we\u2019ll continue onto Dubai. If, for some reason, he doesn\u2019t run well, we\u2019ll abort and come back.\u201d<\/p> Sunday\u2019s (5 February) Sha Tin meeting kicks off with the Class 5 Lung Yat Handicap (1400m) at 1pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8178″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Manfred Man is optimistic Lucky Sweynesse can secure G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) triumph at Sha Tin on Sunday (5 February) to further erase memories of the star speedster\u2019s frustrating G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) experience.Sent off a short-priced favourite in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint on 11 December, Lucky… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8176"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8188,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8176\/revisions\/8188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/centenary-sprint-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}