Sabotage attempt in Hong Kong

[my miss storm cat]

Scary stuff.....

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Racegoers kept in the dark after deadly device found buried at 1,200m starting line before last night's race meeting

ALAN AITKEN

Jockeys at Happy Valley last night rode in the opening race unaware of the details of the bizarre sabotage plot at the racecourse foiled by Jockey Club staff yesterday.
Routine checks of the starting points for the night's race meeting found the elaborate device buried beneath the starting point for the three 1,200m races on the card, a device apparently capable of doing harm to any or all of the 12 horses and riders in a race had it been used.

The danger had passed with the removal of the device before racing, and last night's riders were told few details before heading out to ride from the 1,200m start in the opening race.

After completing the race meeting, several riders were amazed to hear for the first time of the potentially dangerous situation which had been uncovered and some were disappointed that the Jockey Club had not been able to tell them more.

The story of "the device" buried at the 1,200m start, known to few if any of the race-going public last night, overshadowed the events on the track, but the training honours went to Dennis Yip Chor-hong with a treble as Matiri King (Howard Cheng Yue-tin), Evergreen (Eddy Lai Wai-ming) and Bulldozer (Gerald Mosse) took out consecutive events in the second half of the meeting.

Matiri King took out the feature event, the 2,200m EWO Challenge Trophy for his first Hong Kong victory and Yip said that opportunities for the five-year-old came rarely.

"He is extremely one-paced and even 1,800m is too short for him," he said. "So there are not so many races where he is suited. He needs at least 2,000m to be effective and even then he is a hard ride - the jockey has to keep pushing at him all the way.

"So full credit to Howard tonight - he's given him a perfect ride in the lead and he just outstayed them."

Bulldozer, who also gave Mosse a double after the French ace had earlier scored aboard Unique Speed, has found his form again at his latest two outings after resenting blinkers in a number of previous starts this season.

"With the blinkers on, he was charging forward in races and overracing badly and leaving himself nothing for the finish," Yip explained. "Last start, I took off the blinkers and he went much better but he was beaten by a wide draw. Tonight the barrier draws were very important so he was able to win again from barrier two."

Caspar Fownes edged away again in the trainers' championship race with a maiden victory for Baazigar (Shane Dye) in the fourth race and predicted a worthwhile future for the three-year-old.

"He's a later maturing sort of horse and he isn't all there yet," Fownes said. "But he does have a bit of ability and to win first time at Happy Valley is a pretty good indication of that. I hope we'll get another win out of him before the season is over, but the best of him won't be seen until next season or even beyond."

Next season isn't a given for Optic King (Simon Yim Hin-keung) who broke through for a result in the Class Five Yee Wo Street Handicap, 1,000m.

The Peter Ng Bik-kuen-trained gelding had run 19 times without running a place in Hong Kong but mostly over longer distances where he had generally shown some speed.

"He hadn't finished those races off so I discussed with the owners the idea of bringing him back to a sprinting distance tonight," Ng said. "He was able to keep pace with the leaders and still finish the race this time, but because he is on a 19 rating he is still in danger. Even after the rehandicap for this win, he is going to be on a very low rating and will need to win again to avoid compulsory retirement when the season ends."

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...ws20070322.asp