Douglas Whyte says his exciting import Shanwah can improve with a step up in distance at Sha Tin on Sunday (30 November) and justify his inclusion in the field for the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m).<\/p>
The four-year-old generated considerable excitement on his Hong Kong arrival following a stellar three-year-old campaign in Australia, where he claimed AU$738,000 (approx. HK$3.8 million) in prizemoney after high-profile wins in the G2 Caulfield Autumn Classic (1800m) and the G2 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m), before running third in the G1 Australian Derby (2400m).<\/p>
However, he struggled to live up to the hype on debut in Hong Kong, finishing 11th in a Class 2 handicap over 1400 metres. Whyte believes the move to a mile will aid his development and that the Too Darn Hot gelding has improved for that run.<\/p>
\u201cI thought his debut run was acceptable for the amount of work I was able to get into him,\u201d Whyte said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what he\u2019s looking for \u2013 1600 metres, possibly further \u2013 but 1400 was somewhere to start him, and at least he\u2019s had that run into him \u2013 he\u2019s got a bit of mileage into his legs.<\/p>
\u201cHe just needs to adjust from a race tempo and pressure point of view, and then he\u2019ll be on his way.\u201d<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9446″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The learning curve will be steep \u2013 Shanwah must face the world\u2019s record earner and 10-time Group 1 winner Romantic Warrior in a sparkling renewal of the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup at 14 December\u2019s showpiece meeting.<\/p>
To have any realistic hope against the likes of Romantic Warrior, Shanwah (116lb) will need to show significant improvement in Sunday\u2019s Class 2 1600m Turf Handicap.<\/p>
Keagan de Melo, who departs Hong Kong next week and is still searching for his first win of the season, takes the ride.<\/p>
Whyte is confident his charge can transfer his Australian form to Sha Tin and is giving Shanwah every chance by reinstating some familiar headwear.<\/p>
\u201cGood horses do adjust, and that one run has hopefully brought him on mentally \u2013 I know it\u2019s brought him on physically,\u201d Whyte said.<\/p>
\u201cHe\u2019s also got the blinkers going back on him. He raced with blinkers in Australia, so he\u2019s got those going on on Sunday. I think those will certainly make him a lot more focused. So there\u2019s a few positives,\u201d he added.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9447″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
While Shanwah aims to prove his international credentials, a rival in Sunday\u2019s field with similar LONGINES Hong Kong International Races aspirations is Cody Mo\u2019s Pray For Mir, who occupies a reserve slot in the HK$36 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m).<\/p>
Ridden by long-term partner Matthew Chadwick, the five-year-old will jump from gate 14 carrying the top weight (135lb) on the back of an 11th place in last week\u2019s G2 BOCHK Private Wealth<\/em> Jockey Club Mile (1600m).<\/p> \u201cHe\u2019s very fit, he\u2019s very healthy. Unfortunately, the last couple of times here, the race hasn\u2019t been run to suit,\u201d Chadwick said.<\/p> \u201cIf he gets the right run, he always puts his heart out there. So if we can get a nice run in transit, there\u2019s no reason why he shouldn\u2019t run well.\u201d<\/p> Sunday\u2019s (30 November) 10-race fixture at Sha Tin starts at 12.45pm with the Class 4 1000m Turf Handicap.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”9445″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Douglas Whyte says his exciting import Shanwah can improve with a step up in distance at Sha Tin on Sunday (30 November) and justify his inclusion in the field for the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m).The four-year-old generated considerable excitement on his Hong Kong arrival following a stellar… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9449,"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\/9442"}],"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\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9450,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9442\/revisions\/9450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-hkir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}