The BMW Champions Mile at Sha Tin

[my miss storm cat]

Sorry but it's almost criminal to run Beauty Flash here...

Has NOT been the same horse since Dubai and even in his barrier trials... he was fantastic but just don't look the same and hasn't.

Even with the Chadwick up... it's a shame. Can't expect the kid to pull of a miracle.

For me it comes down to Lucky Nine or Xtension.

Good old Able One is my favorite horse in the field so good luck to him of course but I don't think so - not this time - although he could get up for a piece of it.

It's awesome that King's Rose and Musir made the tripover (as well as the rest of course) but it looks like the locals have it covered.


Race 9
THE BMW CHAMPIONS MILE
Sunday, May 06, 2012, Sha Tin, 16:35
Prize Money: $12,000,000.00, Rating: (Null), Group One
Turf, "A+3" Course, 1600m

Horse No. Last 6 Runs Colour Horse Wt. Trainer Age Horse Wt. (Declaration) Rtg. Jockey Draw Sex Sire Dam Best Time Owner Gear

1 2 CITYSCAPE 126 R Charlton 6 - J Doyle 7 h Selkirk Tantina 1.34.04 K Abdulla
2 7/1/1/4/2/1 AMBITIOUS DRAGON 126 A T Millard 5 - D Whyte 4 g Pins Golden Gamble 1.34.87 Johnson Lam Pui Hung & Anderson Lam Hin Yue B
3 AFRICAN STORY 126 S bin Suroor 5 - S De Sousa 10 g Pivotal Blixen Godolphin
4 3/7/9/1/8/4 ABLE ONE 126 J Moore 9 - J Lloyd 9 g Cape Cross Gardenia 1.33.09 Dr & Mrs Cornel Li Fook Kwan H
5 3/1/2/6/1/5 LUCKY NINE 126 C Fownes 5 - B Prebble 14 g Dubawi Birjand 1.34.25 Dr Chang Fuk To & Maria Chang Lee Ming Shum B-/H-
6 5/2/2/3/5/2 XTENSION 126 J Moore 5 - J McDonald 8 h Xaar Great Joy 1.34.04 Mr & Mrs Steven Lo Kit Sing H-/XB
7 2/2/1/1/1/1 GLORIOUS DAYS 126 J Size 4 - F Coetzee 6 g Hussonet San Century 1.34.46 Tom Brown's Syndicate
8 3 MUSIR 126 M F de Kock 5 - K Shea 12 h Redoute's Choice Dizzy de Lago 1.34.82 SH Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum SR
9 1/4/3/4/7/3 ADMIRATION 126 J Moore 4 - W C Marwing 5 c Encosta de Lago Provence 1.34.43 Mr & Mrs Hui Sai Fun H
10 8/6/6/6/6/3 BEAUTY FLASH 126 A S Cruz 6 - M Chadwick 1 g Golan Wychwood Rose 1.33.91 Kwok Siu Ming TT
11 4/3/3/8/7/3 SUNNY KING 126 J Moore 9 - T Clark 3 g Desert Sun Princess Mood 1.33.70 Matthew Wong Leung Pak H
12 7/9/11/12/1/6 DESTINED FOR GLORY 126 J Moore 5 - T Angland 2 g Azamour Tekindia 1.34.59 Connie Siu Kim Ying H/XB/TT
13 4/4/9/2/11/4 FAIR TRADE 126 C Fownes 6 - O Doleuze 13 g Danewin Villa Igea 1.34.59 Tony Stradmoor
14 KING'S ROSE 122 P G Moody 4 - L Nolen 11 f Redoute's Choice Nureyev's Girl Dr G W W Tsoi


STAND-BY STARTER
No. Horse Horse Wt.(Declaration) Wt. Rtg. Age Trainer Gear
1 FLYING BLUE 126 - 5 D Cruz

[my miss storm cat]

Well I'm excited anyway...

I think there are 8 international G1 winners in this field... something like that.

BMW Champions Mile track notes - Friday, 4 May
04/05/2012
Ambitious Dragon ready for BMW Champions Mile test

Ambitious Dragon is gearing up for the G1 BMW Champions Mile on Sunday when he will seek to banish the memories of a below-par effort in the G1 Dubai Duty Free at Meydan back in March.

On that occasion, Tony Millard’s charge was unable to unleash the brilliant burst of speed that had taken him to five career G1/HKG1 victories, as Cityscape stormed to a four and a quarter-length triumph, with Ambitious Dragon back in seventh.

Ambitious Dragon was found to be out of sorts in the aftermath of that reversal and Millard opted to miss last week’s G1 AP QEII Cup in favour of the mile showpiece, in order to give the reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year extra time as he bids to turn around his Dubai form with the re-opposing Cityscape.

“I think Dubai took a bit out of him,” said Millard. “I’m glad that I gave him five weeks because he’s much better this week than he would have been last week. His work is right and I’m certainly happy with him.

“It was a flat run in Dubai, which is understandable given that we discovered afterwards that he had a subclinical virus. He had a temperature the next day and just wasn’t himself.”

Pragmatism is clearly to the fore in Millard’s assessment leading into the race, with Cityscape the one everyone has to beat, in his eyes.

“Cityscape will be very difficult to beat on Sunday, he has such a high cruising speed, he goes 1800m and he can sit on the speed. He was so impressive over 1800m last time and if he runs up to that Dubai form, and if he’s allowed to dictate, we’re running for places.

“The draw’s (Gate 4) okay but I believe that tactics will play a major part in this because Cityscape is the outstanding horse.”

The Mike de Kock-trained Musir, beaten only a half length when third behind Xtension in last year's BMW Champions Mile, looked in good shape after a sharp hit-out on the all-weather track this morning.

Musir, under race-day jockey Kevin Shea, was only asked to quicken in the closing part of his exercise and comfortably ran his last 400 metres in 24.7 seconds.

“We're happy with him,” said assistant trainer Trevor Brown, “I'd say he's in pretty similar shape to this time last year but from gate 12 he's going to need some luck.” Musir drew barrier five last year.

Drawn immediately inside Musir are two of the other three internationals - King's Rose (11) and African Story (10) - and their respective trainers are pleased with how their horses have settled in Hong Kong.

“King's Rose is very well,” said Peter Moody, “her attitude's great, the humidity's not bothering her and there'll be no excuses on the score of fitness. Now it's just a question of her measuring up. As with any race, you just hope you're fast enough.”

Saeed bin Suroor takes a similar view about the prospects of African Story. “He travelled well and physically he's very good so we'll have no excuses but it is a very tough race,” he said.

African Story's three wins from four starts in Dubai were all on the artificial Tapeta track but bin Suroor is optimistic about the transition to turf. “Wet would be very good for him. He won on soft ground on the turf in France. The main thing is I wouldn't want the ground to be too firm,” he said.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

For me it comes down to Lucky Nine or Xtension.

Yea!


RACE 9(598)
Group One - 1600 Metres
THE BMW CHAMPIONS MILE
HK$ 12,000,000.00

Going : Good
Course : Turf - "A+3" Course
Race Time : (25.05) (49.36) (1.13.00) (1.35.23)
Sectional Time : 25.05 24.31 23.64 22.23


Plc. Horse No. Horse Jockey Actual Wt. Draw LBW Time

1 6 XTENSION(M097) J McDonald 126 8 - 1.35.23
2 7 GLORIOUS DAYS(M353) F Coetzee 126 6 1/2 1.35.31
3 5 LUCKY NINE(L259) B Prebble 126 14 1 1.35.40
4 2 AMBITIOUS DRAGON(K399) D Whyte 126 4 1-1/4 1.35.42
5 4 ABLE ONE(G108) J Lloyd 126 9 1-1/4 1.35.44
6 3 AFRICAN STORY(N630) S De Sousa 126 10 2-1/2 1.35.62
7 8 MUSIR(M637) K Shea 126 12 3 1.35.71
8 9 ADMIRATION(L216) W C Marwing 126 5 3-1/2 1.35.81
9 11 SUNNY KING(H105) T Clark 126 3 4-1/4 1.35.92
10 1 CITYSCAPE(N607) J Doyle 126 7 4-1/2 1.35.94
11 14 KING'S ROSE(N631) L Nolen 122 11 5-1/2 1.36.12
12 10 BEAUTY FLASH(K314) M Chadwick 126 1 6 1.36.18
13 13 FAIR TRADE(K345) O Doleuze 126 13 6-3/4 1.36.31
14 12 DESTINED FOR GLORY(M207) T Angland 126 2 7-1/2 1.36.41


Racing Incident Report

CITYSCAPE and DESTINED FOR GLORY were slow to begin. ABLE ONE began awkwardly. K Shea (MUSIR) was found guilty of a charge of careless riding [Rule 100(1)] in that near the 1400 Metres he permitted his mount to shift in when not clear of KING’S ROSE, causing that horse to be crowded for room and in turn to be taken in onto CITYSCAPE, resulting in CITYSCAPE being taken in across the rightful running of ADMIRATION which was checked when taken in onto AMBITIOUS DRAGON, causing AMBITIOUS DRAGON to be taken in across the rightful running of DESTINED FOR GLORY, resulting in DESTINED FOR GLORY being severely checked and losing the running to which it was rightfully entitled. K Shea was suspended from riding in races for a period to expire on Sunday, 20 May 2012 on which day he may resume race riding (3 Hong Kong racedays). The commencement of the suspension was deferred until after Wednesday, 9 May 2012. Near the 1100 Metres, DESTINED FOR GLORY got its head up when awkwardly placed close to the heels of AMBITIOUS DRAGON. After the 900 Metres, FAIR TRADE was left racing wide and without cover. Close to the finishing line, SUNNY KING turned its head towards ADMIRATION. This was brought to the attention of Trainer J Moore. For the majority of the race, KING’S ROSE travelled wide and without cover. When questioned regarding the performance of CITYSCAPE, J Doyle stated that the horse did not begin well as it had done at its most recent start. He said at its last start the horse had begun well and then had improved its position in the early stages without having to be ridden along. He said today CITYSCAPE began only fairly and he was obliged to ride the horse in the early stages to make up lost ground. He said although the tempo of the race was only fair, he had to urge CITYSCAPE along to maintain its position. He said during the race the horse did not travel as it did at its most recent start and when placed under pressure did not stretch out and finish off the race as anticipated. A veterinary inspection of CITYSCAPE after the race did not show any significant findings. CITYSCAPE, XTENSION and GLORIOUS DAYS were sent for sampling.