Caspar Fownes has never been one to shirk a challenge and this Sunday (20 February) at Sha Tin the reigning champion trainer has armed himself with a powerful quartet from the stable, taking aim at both the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m).<\/p>
Sky Darci, Columbus County and Zebrowski face the might of Golden Sixty in the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, while Sky Field is looking to overthrow Waikuku in the Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup.<\/p>
And much like when Rise High dethroned Beauty Generation for Fownes in 2019 or when Southern Legend copied that effort in the 2020 FWD Champions Mile \u2013 this weekend, the handler is hoping for similar in each of the HK$12 million contests.<\/p>
Stepping up to 2000m for the second time in his career and first since his win in the 2021 BMW Hong Kong Derby, Fownes believes Sky Darci \u2013 who pairs with Karis Teetan \u2013 is after a timely rise in distance.<\/p>
\u201cI felt that in his first two runs this season he was very unlucky, he should have got the win that\u2019s for sure, but since then his form has just been average, he\u2019s been coming out of the gates nice and slow, looking like he wants to go over further.<\/p>
\u201cSo, we\u2019re giving him that chance on the weekend and let\u2019s hope it plays into our hands and that he can pick up a nice cheque for the owners,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
Sky Darci flashed from the tail of the field in his first two runs this campaign, however, he\u2019s only returned one top-three finish since then \u2013 at G2 level in the BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile (1600m) last November.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Sky Darci wins the 2021 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cHe was out the back in last and he quickened up nicely to get the job done (in his latest trial), but again this is a race you have Golden Sixty and also probably the next star of Hong Kong in Russian Emperor \u2013 I feel he\u2019s a very, very smart horse who is starting to really hit his straps at the right time.<\/p>
\u201cSo, there\u2019s a lot of depth in the race, but you know what, we\u2019re one start for one win at 2000 metres, so we\u2019ll go there and hope we can be competitive,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
Zebrowski \u2013 G1-placed in the 2020 Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia \u2013 steps out following consecutive Group 3 wins, shaping as a wildcard entrant this weekend.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s rated 106 (in Hong Kong), he\u2019s a horse who we don\u2019t know what his true rating is, so I\u2019ve thrown him in the deep end here, it\u2019s always a little bit hit and miss but his rating could easily end up being 120.<\/p>
\u201cSo, we\u2019re giving him his chance to show us what he has got at this stage of his prep and I\u2019m sure that come the end of the season, when we stretch him out over even further, that he\u2019ll be very competitive, he looks like a very good staying horse for the stable over the next couple of seasons,\u201d the handler said.<\/p>
Zebrowski will have to do it the hard way this weekend under set weights conditions as one of the lowest rated horses (locally) in the race, with each runner assigned 126lb.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7659″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Rounding out Fownes\u2019 trio in the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup is Columbus County \u2013 third in the 2020 G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) \u2013 vying for an elusive top-level crown.<\/p>
\u201cHis run the other day was really good, he only just got beaten by over two lengths over 1800 metres \u2013 2000 metres is still on the short side, I think his best is seen over 2400 metres.<\/p>
\u201cBut I think he\u2019s in great nick and we\u2019re just there to do our best \u2013 hopefully one of them can get the job done but we\u2019ll be trying our best,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
Fownes has 22 wins this season, including Sky Field\u2019s success in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m); this weekend the chestnut is sizing up Waikuku in the Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s pleased me since (his last run), he had a nice trial last Tuesday where he was nice and relaxed before quickening up the last part. He had a little bit of work on the grass this morning (Tuesday, 15 February) and he looks to be ticking all of the right boxes \u2013 we\u2019re looking forward to this race,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
The Deep Field gelding finished a close-up second to Stronger in last month\u2019s G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m), while his last run over 1400m, in the 2021 G3 Premier Cup Handicap returned a comfortable victory ahead of stablemate Sky Darci.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Sky Field trials under Blake Shinn on the turf at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cThe key with this horse is that he\u2019s a much better horse just tucked in behind and following something before being produced a little bit later in the race.<\/p>
\u201cThe other day, his last run was enormous because he was flushed out on the corner which took away his natural ability to really cut loose and he still went down well in a nail-biting finish \u2013 I think once we put him in behind something, switch him off and produce him over the last part then you\u2019ll probably see the best of the horse,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
Blake Shinn takes the reins this weekend against Waikuku, Ka Ying Star, Wellington, Mighty Giant, Healthy Happy, Lucky Express and Californiadeepshot.<\/p>
\u201cI believe the key with him is for him to learn to respect Blake (Shinn) and switch off and know what we want of him, and I think he\u2019s finally starting to get that in his head, that he realises what we want.<\/p>
\u201cIn his final bit of work, he was very good, he followed them, he was nice and relaxed, and he picked up when we wanted him to, it\u2019s all coming together for him,\u201d Fownes said.<\/p>
Sky Field clocked 1m 21.3s (29.0, 28.5, 23.8) in his turf gallop at Sha Tin yesterday morning (Tuesday, 15 February).<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a good race, Waikuku is the one to beat and we respect him, but I think stepping up 1400 metres is not going to be an issue and I think it\u2019s going to be a very good race,\u201d the trainer said.<\/p>
Fownes won the 2012 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup with the brilliant Lucky Nine.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7658″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Caspar Fownes has never been one to shirk a challenge and this Sunday (20 February) at Sha Tin the reigning champion trainer has armed himself with a powerful quartet from the stable, taking aim at both the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) and G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m).Sky… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":7663,"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\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7672,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655\/revisions\/7672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}