After lighting up Happy Valley with a treble on Wednesday night (16 February), trainer Ricky Yiu is quickly turning his attention to Group 1 glory with Mighty Giant in Sunday\u2019s (20 February) HK$12 million Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin.<\/p>
Third in this race last year to Waikuku, Mighty Giant returns second-up this season following an extended break after finishing a distant last in September\u2019s G3 Celebration Cup Handicap (1400m), where he was found to have bled post-race.<\/p>
But Yiu \u2013 Hong Kong\u2019s champion trainer in 2019\/20 \u2013 believes an extended stint at Conghua has the hulking chestnut primed to bounce back this weekend.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s really good, he bled last start, but I must say, I am very happy with him \u2013 especially since he has been at Conghua,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>
A winner of seven races in Hong Kong, the Power gelding stunned four rivals at Sha Tin in April of last year \u2013 his most recent win and biggest to date \u2013 when leading from the get-go under an inspired ride from Neil Callan to savour victory in the G2 Chairman\u2019s Trophy (1600m) against Southern Legend, More Than This, Champion\u2019s Way and Waikuku.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Mighty Giant makes all in the 2021 Chairman\u2019s Trophy at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
In preparation for his return, Yiu\u2019s charge has had two trials on the Conghua turf, crossing the post first in his latest effort over 1200m in 1m 12.15s (25.3, 22.7, 24.1).<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s trialled twice since his last run and we\u2019ve scoped him which has come back clean, he looks well and he returns fresh \u2013 he\u2019ll run a good race,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>
Across his 2019\/20 and 2020\/21 campaigns, Mighty Giant enjoyed a meteoric rise which featured five consecutive wins \u2013 twice scoring at Class 2 level.<\/p>
\u201cHe looks promising off the trials, a lot of horses go to Conghua and they freshen up, they enjoy the tracks \u2013 he\u2019s refreshed and 1400 (metres) is his best trip,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>
Derek Leung takes the reins this weekend and the pair step away from gate five against Waikuku, Ka Ying Star, Sky Field, Wellington, Healthy Happy, Lucky Express and Californiadeepshot.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s trialled well, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing him run this Sunday \u2013 all the feedback from Conghua is good \u2013 it\u2019s positive,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Mighty Giant rounds the field in his most recent trial at Conghua.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Yiu holds concerns about Mighty Giant at the beginning of his races \u2013 an occasionally slow starter who generally does his best work at the head of the field.<\/p>
\u201cSometimes he can be a bit slow at the start, so he does need a jockey that knows him \u2013 that can be even better for him because if you ask him to chase (early on) he won\u2019t finish off the race,\u201d Yiu outlined.<\/p>
The six-year-old New Zealand-bred \u2013 who tips the scales at around 1200-plus pounds \u2013 has banked HK$10.52 million for connections in Hong Kong.<\/p>
\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to it (the race). Derek is a bigger rider, so he\u2019ll be able to stretch himself because this horse is a big horse,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (20 February) Group 1 double-header at Sha Tin kicks off at 1pm with the Class 2 Ambitious Dragon Handicap (2000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7710″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After lighting up Happy Valley with a treble on Wednesday night (16 February), trainer Ricky Yiu is quickly turning his attention to Group 1 glory with Mighty Giant in Sunday\u2019s (20 February) HK$12 million Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin.Third in this race last year to Waikuku, Mighty Giant… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":7713,"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\/7707"}],"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=7707"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7721,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7707\/revisions\/7721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/citi-hkgold-qsj\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}