{"id":3353,"date":"2020-04-22T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T05:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctr-campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/?p=3353"},"modified":"2020-04-23T10:42:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T02:42:16","slug":"fwd-qeii-cup-victory-would-be-sweeter-for-shinn-and-playa-del-puente","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/news\/fwd-qeii-cup-victory-would-be-sweeter-for-shinn-and-playa-del-puente","title":{"rendered":"FWD QEII Cup victory would be sweeter for Shinn and Playa Del Puente"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
[vc_row el_class=”section-padding-top”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”2016″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” css_animation=”none” el_class=”title”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/div>\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3356″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Playa Del Puente almost caused the biggest shock in BMW Hong Kong Derby history last month when at odds of 289\/1 he forced Golden Sixty to prove there was substance to his brilliance.\r\n\r\nBut a valiant \u2018almost\u2019 doesn\u2019t get you the trophy.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was a bittersweet feeling to run second beaten so narrowly \u2013 a neck \u2013 in what some would say is the biggest race in Hong Kong. We got beat by Golden Sixty and he\u2019s the champion horse of his age group,\u201d jockey Blake Shinn said.\r\n\r\nThe Australian received plaudits for his ride on the Irish import, which was both gusty and astute. Last at the Derby half-way point, behind a slack tempo, Shinn rounded the field and kicked three lengths clear at the top of the home straight \u2013 he was pegged two strides short.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m still proud of the horse\u2019s achievement and proud of my achievement,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nThat was last month though and now Shinn is hoping for more than commiserating admiration as his reward from Sunday\u2019s (26 April) HK$25 million G1 FWD QEII Cup. Playa Del Puente will take his place in the 2000m feature against Hong Kong\u2019s best in the division, the triple G1 winners Exultant and Time Warp, and the 2019 Hong Kong Derby winner Furore.\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
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Playa Del Puente and Shinn almost pull it off in the Derby.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\u201cI think he\u2019s got a big race in him,\u201d Shinn said. \u201cWhether he can do it in this race against the seasoned horses, time will tell, but we\u2019ll give it our best shot.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cTime Warp is the obvious leader, he\u2019s one of three Tony Cruz runners in the field and there are only seven runners. Tactics in small fields always play a role and I\u2019m mindful of that especially given my horse and how I feel he needs to be ridden \u2013 he\u2019s not a sit and sprint horse, he\u2019s quite dour.\r\n\r\n\u201cHis strengths are his staying ability, so the quicker they go, the better. It\u2019s just a matter of when the barriers open assessing how quickly they go and how my horse is travelling according to the pace.\u201d\r\n\r\nTrainer Danny Shum agrees \u201cit was a surprise\u201d last time but is hoping the gelding can fly the flag for this year\u2019s Hong Kong Derby as the only four-year-old in the small field. The Huang Kai Wen-owned bay won three races on the Dundalk Polytrack when trained by Michael Halford in Ireland and has an easy Class 2 1650m win to his credit from eight Hong Kong starts.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe\u2019s a northern hemisphere horse so while I don’t think he\u2019s improved since his last run, I do think next season he will be stronger, he\u2019ll be more acclimatised and he could be better,\u201d Shum said.\r\n\r\n\u201cI think on Sunday there\u2019ll be a reasonable pace and if we are patient, we\u2019ll be ok. I think if he can race comfortably, he will finish off well.\u201d\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3357″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Shinn, who has a solid 10 wins and an eye-catching 38 seconds on the board so far in his first full Hong Kong season, partnered Playa Del Puente in a barrier trial last week. That was on the dirt over 1200m and he ran home 13 lengths behind the talented rising star Wellington.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was pleased with how he felt but I thought he would have gone a little better,\u201d Shinn revealed. \u201cBut some horses can trial indifferently on the dirt, so I\u2019m not too perturbed by that. The main thing was that he\u2019s in good condition and he\u2019s 100 percent sound. His mind is great and when you add all those things up, he\u2019s in good order.\u201d\r\n\r\nFWD Champions Day features three G1 races at Sha Tin, the HK$25 million FWD QEII Cup, the HK$20 million FWD Champions Mile and the HK$18 million Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize (1200m).\r\n\r\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3356″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Playa Del Puente almost caused the biggest shock in BMW Hong Kong Derby history last month when at odds of 289\/1 he forced Golden Sixty to prove there was substance to his brilliance. But a valiant \u2018almost\u2019 doesn\u2019t get you the trophy. \u201cIt was a bittersweet feeling to run second… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"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\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3358,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3353\/revisions\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/rising-stars\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}