Super Wealthy steps into the unknown this Sunday (23 January) at Sha Tin when the five-time winning six-year-old gets his initial experience of the Group 1 cauldron in the HK$12 million Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m).<\/p>
Runner-up at Group 2 level earlier this term in the Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) to Lucky Patch, Super Wealthy \u2013 a son of Epaulette \u2013 slammed 13 rivals under a cool, collected Alexis Badel one start prior in the G3 National Day Cup Handicap (1000m) \u2013 defying a fast-finishing and subsequent G1-winning, Sky Field.<\/p>
Since then, across his most recent two starts, the 109-rater was interrupted in November\u2019s G2 BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) but returned to log a rousing third behind Master Eight in the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy Handicap (1000m) at the beginning of this month.<\/p>
Trained across his first 11 starts in Hong Kong by Douglas Whyte \u2013 the Australian-bred is now under the care of David Hayes \u2013 who is buoyant ahead of this weekend\u2019s test.<\/p>
\u201cI don\u2019t think it is (a daunting task), some of them are meeting him better off here but I think he\u2019s a horse that\u2019s going to end up with the same rating as them at some stage \u2013 he\u2019s coming through the classes well,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Super Wealthy closes into third behind Master Eight in the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy Handicap (1000m). <\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Run at set weights, Sunday\u2019s contest sees each runner allotted 126lb \u2013 meaning Super Wealthy \u2013 who slots in with the second-lowest rating (internationally) \u2013 will be without an edge on rivals when he lines up for his first taste of the top-level.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019m really happy with him \u2013 I thought he over raced slightly last start, so he was bit stiff the other day but hopefully he\u2019ll relax and be right in it again this weekend,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
Before import from Australia, Super Wealthy \u2013 formerly known as Covert Operation \u2013 was a one-time winner from one start Down Under with trainer Jason Coyle in Sydney.<\/p>
\u201cI really thought the target race was the Bauhinia Sprint Trophy when he just got beat (last start) and I just thought he probably wasn\u2019t good enough to win the Hong Kong Sprint, but I actually think he might have gone close looking back, although, I\u2019m glad he missed it because of all of the bad luck in the race,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
Engaged in the race are Sky Field, Wellington, Courier Wonder, Hot King Prawn, Stronger, Computer Patch and Master Eight for a small but hotly contested renewal.<\/p>
Both Super Wealthy and Master Eight are the only two runners in the race without Group 1 experience \u2013 the latter is looking to extend his unbeaten sequence to six.<\/p>
\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful \u2013 if they go fast, it\u2019ll suit him, if it\u2019s a sit and sprint \u2013 that takes a bit out of him,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7098″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
No stranger to big race success in Hong Kong \u2013 Hayes won the 2002 G1 Hong Kong Sprint (1000m \u2013 distance extended to 1200m in 2006) with All Thrills Too and 2003 Hong Kong Derby (2000m) with Elegant Fashion.<\/p>
\u201cHe (Super Wealthy) won two strong races early and they were very good, then he just got beaten by a good horse (Lucky Patch) \u2013 I always thought he was up there.<\/p>
\u201cKaris (Teetan) is on him \u2013 we\u2019ve had some luck together lately,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
Hayes also won the Stewards\u2019 Cup (1600m) with Smashing Pumpkin in 1997 and Resfa in 2000; this Sunday\u2019s edition of the race features Hong Kong\u2019s \u2018Goliath\u2019 Golden Sixty \u2013 bidding for his 17th consecutive win.<\/p>
However, victory in Sunday\u2019s dash would end John Size\u2019s recent stranglehold of the Centenary Sprint Cup having won the past four editions with D B Pin (2018), Beat The Clock (2019 & 2020) and Hot King Prawn (2021).<\/p>
Size also won the race in 2003 with Grand Delight \u2013 that season\u2019s Hong Kong Horse of the Year (2002\/03).<\/p>
Sunday\u2019s (23 January) 10-race fixture at Sha Tin kicks off at 1pm with the Class 4 D B Pin Handicap (1000m).<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”7097″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Super Wealthy steps into the unknown this Sunday (23 January) at Sha Tin when the five-time winning six-year-old gets his initial experience of the Group 1 cauldron in the HK$12 million Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m).Runner-up at Group 2 level earlier this term in the Premier Bowl Handicap (1200m) to Lucky Patch,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":7099,"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\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7094"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7094"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7134,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7094\/revisions\/7134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/stewards-centenary-sprint\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}