Ricky Yiu is hopeful Dragon Joy can take a crucial step towards emulating the feats of decorated stablemate Voyage Bubble when the emerging talent contests the Class 3 Rose Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (16 February) against several other HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) aspirants.<\/p>
Yiu has ambitious plans for Dragon Joy after the gelding\u2019s eye-catching last-start 1600m victory at Sha Tin on 12 January against a string of Four-Year-Old Classic Series contenders including Markwin, Sky Heart, Silvery Breeze and Mickley.<\/p>
Rated 70, the son of Saxon Warrior again clashes with a host of BMW Hong Kong Derby nominees in Sunday\u2019s finale including Allcash, Bundle Award, Embraces, Sky Heart, Morgan Success, Beauty Viva, Spanish Flame, Everyone\u2019s Star, Another World and Winning Wing.<\/p>
To be partnered by Matthew Poon, Dragon Joy will again have to overcome barrier 14 and carrying 127lb \u2013 an increase of 12lb from his previous start.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a lightly-raced, up-and-coming young horse. He won well last start from a wide barrier and he\u2019ll keep improving. Hopefully we can do the same thing. The jockey knows him well. I strongly believe that he will perform again. I\u2019m still optimistic he can beat them again,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s a horse who tries very hard. He always shows his best in the morning and in the races. I like him very much. He\u2019s a pure racehorse.\u201d<\/p>
Yiu hopes Dragon Joy can press for a start in the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) at Sha Tin on 2 March after two wins and a luckless third from his past three starts.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4705″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Yiu famously enjoyed Four-Year-Old Classic Series success in 2023 with Voyage Bubble\u2019s Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) and BMW Hong Kong Derby triumphs and is confident his stable spearhead is on course for the HK$13 million G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on 23 February.<\/p>
Having already won the first leg of the Triple Crown Series with victory in the G1 Stewards\u2019 Cup (1600m) on 19 January, Voyage Bubble will bid for a fourth Group 1 success after finishing third in a 1200m trial on the dirt at Sha Tin on Thursday (13 February) behind Helios Express.<\/p>
\u201cHe jumped ordinary and the jockey (Poon) commented that he really didn\u2019t like the kick back. It was only a small field and he was about four lengths behind the leader and from the top of the straight, he pulled him out and asked him to go forward and he accelerated. Without the kickback, he enjoyed it. It was a good trial,\u201d Yiu said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4706″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
David Eustace will unveil Hong Kong first-starter Colourful King in the Class 3 Osmanthus Handicap (1000m) under Andrea Atzeni after patiently guiding the Australian import through his acclimatisation.<\/p>
\u201cWe took our time and he has his little quirks but, from a training and trackwork point of view, he\u2019s been relatively straight forward,\u201d Eustace said of the two-time winner at Sandown in Australia for Mathew Ellerton.<\/p>
\u201cHe trialled in a straight line well in Conghua and the race has been targeted for a little while. He doesn\u2019t work really flashy on the dirt \u2013 he just does enough \u2013 but he\u2019s definitely a different horse on the grass. He\u2019s sort of ticked all the boxes.\u201d<\/p>
By Blue Point, Colourful King has won two trials at Sha Tin since transferring from Conghua.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4707″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Ka Ying Rising limbered up for the HK$13 million G1 Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) at Sha Tin on 23 February with an effortless trial win over 1200m at Conghua this morning (14 February) under Karis Teetan.<\/p>
\u201cI don\u2019t know about the opposition, but he was very good this morning and he actually sat in behind them before winning easily,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cKaris was very happy. Physically, Ka Ying Rising\u2019s in peak shape and he\u2019s tapering into the big race now.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019ll return to Sha Tin tomorrow, do some swimming and he\u2019ll do a bit of work in the middle of the week and then be ready for the races.\u201d<\/p>
With a record-breaking victory in the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) on 19 January, when he broke his own track record by clocking 1m 07.20s, Ka Ying Rising took his unbeaten streak to nine races and secured the first leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series.<\/p>
In today\u2019s hit-out, Ka Ying Rising settled third behind Regal Gem and Absolute Honour before peeling out in the straight and forging away to win by two and three-quarter lengths in 1m 11.38s.<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (16 February) 11-race card at Sha Tin starts with the Class 5 Camellia Handicap (1600m) at 12.30pm.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4704″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ricky Yiu is hopeful Dragon Joy can take a crucial step towards emulating the feats of decorated stablemate Voyage Bubble when the emerging talent contests the Class 3 Rose Handicap (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (16 February) against several other HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) aspirants.Yiu has ambitious… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4708,"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\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4701"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4718,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions\/4718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-citi-hkgold-cup-queens-silver-jubilee-cup\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}