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#2
04-18-2007, 10:06 PM
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SCMP.....
Thursday, April 19, 2007 French pair throw in the towel before race ALAN AITKEN The Group One Champions Mile on Sunday week has been hit early after two French trainers decided the opposition was too strong. Freddy Head-trained Racinger and Francois Rohault's Turtle Bowl were withdrawn from the third Asian Mile Challenge series leg yesterday. The pair had quinellaed the Group Three Prix Edmond Blanc over a mile on heavy ground at Saint-Cloud 17 days ago at their first outings for the new European flat season, but their trainers were daunted by the much tougher task at Sha Tin. "They said they'd looked at the depth of the race and decided it was too strong for them to be taking on so early in the season," said Jockey Club international racing manager Mark Player. "It would have been nice to have a French flavour but it isn't easy to get the Europeans here at this stage of the year. "There don't seem to be any appropriate replacements available for them, so we'll run the Champions Mile with a field of 12 rather than trying to fill it for the sake of filling it." Player said he had made a last-ditch attempt to enrol Kenji Yamauchi-trained Japanese miler Kongo Rikishio following his win in the Group Two Yomiuri Miles Cup at Hanshin last Saturday but to no avail. "Before the selections, they were very keen to bring the horse for the Champions Mile but his rating didn't quite get him into the field," Player said. "After he won at Hanshin and his rating was raised, he would have been a welcome addition, but it was all too late." Last edited by my miss storm cat : 04-18-2007 at 11:57 PM. 
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#3
04-20-2007, 12:22 AM
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Barrier rogue and diva Ms. Aqua has been retired.
 Aqua no more By Mandy Cottell April 20, 2007 GROUP I-winning racemare Aqua d'Amore has been retired after failing to pass a barrier test at Randwick today. The quirky mare needed to show stewards she had overcome her habit of sitting down in the starting stalls in order to be cleared to race in the Champion Mile in Hong Kong on Sunday week. But she reverted to type and stewards had no option but to maintain the bar on her racing. "Obviously the owners are disappointed, Hong Kong are disappointed and we're disappointed," Racing New South Wales chief steward Ray Murrihy said. "Hong Kong expressed to us that they didn't want the horse to come all the way across unless she had completed all the requirements, and she obviously hasn't. "She did sit down so she's been given an unsatisfactory and she's still under a bar." Aqua d'Amore passed a jumpout at Randwick last Friday and a trial at the venue on Tuesday before failing at the final hurdle today. Michael Kirwan, representing owners Coolmore Stud, felt the requirements imposed by stewards on Aqua d'Amore were too tough. "It was probably a bit much I'd say," Kirwan said. "It seems silly for a mare to have to trial three times in a week. "But the stewards were acting in the best interests of racing, and that's how it goes. "She's retired now,. "She's finished racing." Trained by Gai Waterhouse, Aqua d'Amore started 34 times for nine wins, 11 placings and more than $1.9 million prizemoney. A daughter of the late Danehill, she recorded her biggest triumph in the Group I Futurity Stakes (1600m) at Caulfield last month. She was also brilliant last spring without winning, running placings in the Caulfield Cup, Mackinnon and Turnbull Stakes as well as finishing fourth in the W.S. Cox Plate. "She was a top-class mare and a fun mare," Kirwan said. "She was a real trier and she never ran a bad race. "She's going to be missed. "She was quite popular given her antics, but she's off to stud this season and she'll be served by Encosta De Lago." The retirement of Aqua d'Amore means the Anthony Cummings-trained Casino Prince will be Australia's sole representative at the Hong Kong meeting on April 29. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32343,00.html
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#4
04-20-2007, 09:06 PM
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Down Town ruled out of the Champions Mile.....
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#5
04-23-2007, 12:28 AM
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Nne left in the Champions Mile..... Green Treasure was ruled out.
Doleuze takes the Good Ba Ba mount. Wonder who will ride The Duke..... Trackwork photos..... http://www.hkjc.com/english/news/news_2007042315825.htm
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#8
04-23-2007, 09:05 PM
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Quote:
 Must..... ..... get..... ..... someone..... ..... to..... ..... translate!  * * * Uh oh..... are you here Gallant? See this (*****) part... South China Morning Post..... Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Kinane wins two-horse race to ride Ho's Viva Pataca in QE II Cup MURRAY BELL Stanley Ho Hung-sun has finally made his call, choosing Irish champion Michael Kinane in front of Australian maestro Darren Beadman as the rider for Viva Pataca in Sunday's HK$14 million Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Trainer John Moore originally put three names before the Macau casino mogul but the elite shortlist was reduced to two when Aussie Damien Oliver was handed a long suspension by stewards after the Sydney Cup meeting 10 days ago. It was Kinane's first-hand experience with Viva Pataca that swayed Ho, according to Moore, with the Irishman having piloted Viva Pataca twice - for a win in the Champions & Chater Cup last season and a close second to Vengeance Of Rain in the Hong Kong Gold Cup in February. Beadman will now swing on to stablemate Viva Macau, the high-priced four-year-old Ho purchased late last year from the Aga Khan. "Darren will also be riding Joyful Winner in the Champions Mile, and Mick will be on Able One in that race," Moore added. "Darren will also have three or four other rides for me on the day in the minor races." Olivier Doleuze has been forced to make the biggest call of the season, having the choice of Hong Kong Mile hero The Duke and rising star Good Ba Ba as his mount in the Champions Mile. After a lot of soul searching, Doleuze turned his back on The Duke (***** are you mad yet? ) , who gave him his first Hong Kong Group One in December in that memorable victory over Armada, in favour of the younger horse. Trainer Caspar Fownes, after consulting owner Eddie Yau Jnr, said he would fly in Dwayne Dunn from Australia to partner The Duke. "I know Olivier had a tough call to make but there are no hard feelings," Fownes said. "Dwayne knows the horse well and he's a real big-race specialist - he's won a stack of Group Ones in Australia over the past year or so, so we won't lose anything there." Dunn also handled The Duke in Japan last year when the gelding was understudy to Bullish Luck and Joyful Winner in Hong Kong's three-pronged assault on the Yasuda Kinen. Tony Cruz declared his two Champions Mile candidates, Bullish Luck and Floral Pegasus, to be at their best after they came through their penultimate gallops brilliantly on Sunday morning. "They will have their final gallop on Thursday morning, but I'm very happy with both of them," Cruz summed up. Australian three-year-old Casino Prince was the last of the international horses to arrive yesterday, making a total of seven visitors for the weekend's two Group One features. http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...s20070424b.asp
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Hybrid Mode
