Voyage Bubble proved he more than belonged on the billing for the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races alongside two greats when a herculean winner of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) on Sunday (14 December).<\/p>\r\n
He may not have the same magnetic allure as local legends Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior, but last season\u2019s Triple Crown winner more than did his bit to contribute to a wonderful day at Sha Tin by fighting off the challenge of Soul Rush and landing his second HK$36 million LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.<\/p>\r\n
Unlike in last month\u2019s G2 BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m), there was no Romantic Warrior standing in the way of Voyage Bubble this time, and the local hero added his name to an illustrious list of multiple Mile winners comprising Monopolize (1995 & 1996), Good Ba Ba (2007-2009), Beauty Generation (2017 & 2018) and Golden Sixty (2020, 2021 & 2023).<\/p>\r\n
His hard-fought half-length victory over Soul Rush represented a repeat of last year\u2019s result and formed part of a memorable day for Zac Purton, who was replacing the seven-year-old\u2019s regular partner James McDonald for the second time in succession. Once again, it was bravery, so often a trademark of Voyage Bubble\u2019s performances, that came to the fore.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cI think he just showed what type of horse he is,\u201d Purton said. \u201cHe\u2019s not the horse who is going to give you a \u2018wow\u2019 performance, but he\u2019s got such a big heart that he\u2019s always up for the fight.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in the shadow of the big two, unfortunately, but in his own right, he\u2019s a supremely good horse. A Triple Crown winner, he\u2019s come back today off the canvas to win.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cWhen we reflect back upon all the great horses that have been in Hong Kong, he\u2019s certainly going to be remembered in the way that he should. His CV is outstanding. To come out and go back-to-back in the Hong Kong Mile, it\u2019s not an easy thing to do.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Voyage Bubble denies Soul Rush in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Voyage Bubble broke wide from stall 12 and found a prominent position behind the trail-blazing Pray For Mir, with Docklands and Copartner Prance positioned prominently further inside.<\/p>\r\n
Last year\u2019s runner-up Soul Rush was encouraged to improve by Cristian Demuro as the race developed, and he joined Pray For Mir and Voyage Bubble around the home turn.<\/p>\r\n
It was the visiting horse, Soul Rush, who defeated Romantic Warrior in a pulsating finish to the G1 Dubai Turf (1800m) in April, who looked to have the edge on his final start before being retired to stud.<\/p>\r\n
However, the battle of the seven-year-olds was won by the local star as Voyage Bubble secured a sixth Group 1 success for trainer Ricky Yiu and his owners, the Sunshine and Moonlight Syndicate.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThe horse has great heart,\u201d Yiu said. \u201cA lot of credit goes to the jockey, Zac, he did it so well. It seemed to me that he\u2019d ridden the horse for a long time, but obviously, he knew him well from his last start.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cAlthough he\u2019s seven, I don\u2019t really feel the age of him. He\u2019s still full of beans. After we got beaten last time we decided to go for the Mile.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11917″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Red Lion, who conquered Voyage Bubble in the G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) in April, slipstreamed the protagonists into the home straight and responded admirably to Hugh Bowman\u2019s urgings to finish a gallant third.<\/p>\r\n
Docklands was competing in his fourth jurisdiction of the year after contesting the G1 Mile Championship (1600m) last time and improved vastly on his 12th-placed effort in the race last year to finish fourth under Tom Marquand.<\/p>\r\n
On Voyage Bubble\u2019s owners, the Sunshine And Moonlight Syndicate, Yiu added: \u201cIt\u2019s a really nice group of people. Every time the horse runs, they\u2019re cheering.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
They weren\u2019t the only ones, for it was a day when the mighty Voyage Bubble gained another deserved success on the biggest stage.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”11918″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Voyage Bubble proved he more than belonged on the billing for the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races alongside two greats when a herculean winner of the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) on Sunday (14 December). He may not have the same magnetic allure as local legends Ka Ying Rising and… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":11919,"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-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11915"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11915"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11923,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11915\/revisions\/11923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}