Famed by an unmatched riding record, Douglas Whyte will bid to add the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) as a fresh training pinnacle when he saddles Turin Redsun in the HK$24 million Classic at Sha Tin on Sunday (20 March).<\/p>
Whyte\u2019s 1,813 career winners and 13 consecutive jockeys\u2019 championships outline the South African\u2019s phenomenal riding career but, having piloted Super Satin (2010), Fay Fay (2012) and Akeed Mofeed (2013) to Derby success, Whyte focus is now firmly fixed on Turin Redsun, who jumps from barrier six under Alexis Badel tomorrow.<\/p>
\u201cTo have a live chance going into the Derby is very special. This horse is going along the right way, having had only a few runs but I think he has the potential to take the next step. I\u2019ve done my job, now it\u2019s up to Alexis. He\u2019s a Group 1 rider and we\u2019ve got a perfect gate,\u201d Whyte said.<\/p>
\u201cWe\u2019re on track. I just hope from Alexis\u2019 perspective and the horse\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s a truly-run race. This is what this race should be about, it should be truly-run. It\u2019s now going to boil down to tactics and how it unfolds up on the day.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Turin Redsun flashes to the line in the Hong Kong Classic Cup.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Turin Redsun\u2019s fast-finishing efforts when fourth in the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) behind Romantic Warrior and second in the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) behind California Spangle mark the gelding out as leading contender in the final leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic series.<\/p>
Yet to win in Hong Kong, the son of Dubawi \u2013 the same sire as Akeed Mofeed \u2013 has steadily acclimatised since arriving from England, where he was a dual winner as Mithras for John and Thady Gosden.<\/p>
\u201cSince the first day he stepped out, he\u2019s just keep improving and that\u2019s what you want to see. You want to see them enjoy their surroundings and their work \u2013 and he has,\u201d Whyte said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s quickly adapted and accepted everything. He had a lovely blow-out in a trial (working gallop) last week and he\u2019s stepped up again. Early on, he was a dark horse for the Derby, he was on nobody\u2019s radar as a Derby horse. He\u2019s just stepped up and he\u2019s shown me that he\u2019s ready to take them on in the Derby, so he gets his chance.<\/p>
\u201cWhat he loses in height, he makes up in heart. He\u2019s got a little bit of similarity in that way to Akeed Mofeed.\u201d<\/p>
Badel, who sits fourth in this season\u2019s championship with 31 wins to trail only Zac Purton (90), Joao Moreira (85) and Karis Teetan (47), is \u201cvery confident.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8544″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
\u201cI believe he\u2019s had an ideal preparation and he\u2019s coming at the right time and his run in the Classic Cup was massive. I believe the 2000m will be ideal for him and the draw is good. He is mentally tough and in the Classic Cup it was a sprint only from the home turn and he ran very well,\u201d the Frenchman said.<\/p>
\u201cThe Derby is a very open race. So, you want to have a smooth run. I think this is a very tactical race and I think from this draw, I can be in a good position.\u201d<\/p>
Francis Lui will saddle The Irishman as he chases a second Derby triumph following Golden Sixty\u2019s success in 2020, placing trust in Blake Shinn\u2019s skill to overcome barrier 13.<\/p>
\u201cBlake is a very good jockey, he has won a lot of Group 1 races both in Australia and Hong Kong and I believe he can handle it,\u201d Lui said.<\/p>
Shinn is adamant The Irishman, who was twice placed at Group level in Australia for Mark Newnham, is poised to run a big race.<\/p>
\u201cI believe we\u2019re going in there in as good a shape as we can. He\u2019s a very impressive horse, great engine, big stride and I think he\u2019s going to run very well,\u201d Shinn said.<\/p>
\u201cHe came over from Australia with very good form and a highly-rated horse. At each run here, he\u2019s continued to improve but, through the circumstances of barriers and other things, he hasn\u2019t got a win against his name.<\/p>
\u201cI think he has got the credentials \u2013 he\u2019s got a staying pedigree, he\u2019s got a great set of lungs on him and if he can relax and get a smooth passage, he\u2019s going to give it a big shake.<\/p>
\u201cI believe I\u2019ve got the horse to win the race. I firmly believe that. He\u2019s absolutely peaking for the day on Sunday. It comes down to the right run \u2013 and that\u2019s my job. Francis and his team have done their job, so I just hope I can ride a good race and he\u2019ll be there in the finish.\u201d<\/p>
The meeting at Sha Tin this Sunday (20 March) kicks off at 1pm with Class 4 Ping Hai Star Handicap (1200m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Feature Interview - Turin Redsun racing connections<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8543″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Famed by an unmatched riding record, Douglas Whyte will bid to add the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) as a fresh training pinnacle when he saddles Turin Redsun in the HK$24 million Classic at Sha Tin on Sunday (20 March).Whyte\u2019s 1,813 career winners and 13 consecutive jockeys\u2019 championships outline the South… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":8542,"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\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8540"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8545,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8540\/revisions\/8545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/hk-derby\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}