Anticipated to return in Sunday week\u2019s (23 October) HK$5 million G2 Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin, Wellington limbered up with an impressive barrier trial under Alexis Badel over 1200m on dirt this morning (Tuesday, 11 October).<\/p>
\u201cYes, it was (very impressive). I came from far behind and the horse hit the line very strongly, he was very concentrated and he ran a very good trial,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Roughly 10 lengths off the leading horse upon turning for home, Wellington let rip late under the Frenchman, picking off rivals one-by-one this morning to cross the line in second position behind Reve Parisien who clocked 1m 09.93s for the effort.<\/p>
Ahead of this morning\u2019s trial, Wellington was full of himself \u2013 buzzing in Sha Tin\u2019s sand ring as Badel linked with last season\u2019s Hong Kong Champion Sprinter (2021\/22).<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s always a bit funny when he\u2019s fresh at the beginning of the season \u2013 I\u2019m always very cautious because he can spin around very quickly,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Chasing victory in the HK$24 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m), Wellington closed out last campaign with setbacks in his wake and victory in this year\u2019s G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m), G2 Sprint Cup (1200m) and G1 Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize (1200m), respectively.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Wellington surges under Badel at Sha Tin this morning.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say (if he has shown more improvement) because he has a lot of personality, he\u2019s not giving everything in the mornings so it\u2019s hard to judge but he was very impressive last season during his races, so hopefully he can be at least as good as he was last season,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
This weekend, Badel will reunite with Tourbillon Diamond in the HK$5 million G2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Handicap (1600m).<\/p>
Badel steered the 119-rater to a pair of Group 3 victories last season in the G3 Sa Sa Ladies\u2019 Purse Handicap (1800m) and G3 Premier Plate Handicap (1800m).<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s been a great horse to me, I mean, he constantly pushes the limit. Every time we think that he has done his best he just keeps trying very hard, he\u2019s such a genuine and honest horse, I think he should try very hard again,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Tourbillon Diamond is trained by Danny Shum and has banked HK$18.58 million for his connections.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a brilliant racehorse, he tries very hard. I think the race will be difficult but I know I can count on him,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Returning from a two-meeting suspension on Wednesday night (12 October) at Happy Valley, Badel takes eight rides out of a possible nine including Everyone\u2019s Delight in the Class 2 Man Yiu Handicap (1650m).<\/p>
\u201cHe used to run well fresh, I think, and he likes the track. He has a good draw and his trials have seemed good enough \u2013 I think he\u2019s going to run a decent race,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Everyone\u2019s Delight is one of two from trainer Frankie Lor in the race, who also saddles Fa Fa.<\/p>
\u201cHe (Fa Fa) had his first start, finishing third and after that run he has improved. I think he has a very good chance (tomorrow night),\u201d Lor said. \u201cUsually after his first-up run he improves.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Everyone\u2019s Delight wins for Badel in May, 2022.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Everyone\u2019s Delight has drawn gate one and is a strong chance to take up the running tomorrow night.<\/p>
Later on the card, Badel teams with the John Size-trained Touch Faith in the second section of the Class 4 Finance Street Handicap (1200m).<\/p>
\u201cHe won quite well in Class 5 and he stepped up to Class 4 at the end of last season and he had a tough run but the horse was comfortable and he hit the line quite strongly, so I\u2019m confident he should be improving enough to run a good race,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Touch Faith runs in the same silks as 2018 Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) winner Nothingilikemore for the Happy Corner Syndicate.<\/p>
The Outreach galloper was caught wide upon turning for home last start but fought bravely to grab second behind Sugar Sugar who also returns first-up tomorrow night.\u00a0<\/p>
\u201cI think so (to being competitive), it was a tough run last time and he (Touch Faith) did a good job, so hopefully he can repeat that performance with a smoother and easier run for him,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>
Wednesday\u2019s (12 October) nine-race fixture at Happy Valley kicks off at 6.45pm with the second section of the Class 5 Pottinger Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”6346″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Anticipated to return in Sunday week\u2019s (23 October) HK$5 million G2 Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin, Wellington limbered up with an impressive barrier trial under Alexis Badel over 1200m on dirt this morning (Tuesday, 11 October).\u201cYes, it was (very impressive). I came from far behind and the horse hit… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6349,"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\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6350,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6344\/revisions\/6350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/gentlemens-bow-tie-raceday\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}