By Alan Carasso
Two Hong Kong-based runners took in a Wednesday barrier trial at Sha Tin Racecourse, while another domiciled in Singapore is entered for Sunday at Kranji as all three prepare for the Keeneland Korea Cup (1800m) and Keeneland Korea Sprint (1200m) to be contested Sunday, Sept. 11, at Seoul Racecourse.
In the first of three trials over the Sha Tin all-weather track, Super Jockey (NZ) (Sandtrap) was hustled away from gate one by jockey Karis Teetan, carried a narrow advantage off the final turn and opened up late to “win” the trial by 5 1/4 lengths in the slick time of 1:08.67 (video). Surprise runner-up in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen and fifth when suffering a bloodied foot in this year's running, Super Jockey will compete in the Sprint, which carries purse money of K¥700 million (US$600,000).
“I think the way we have prepared him has been correct and now we've just got to get through to the race,” commented trainer Tony Millard. “As long as he can come back now and we have a little bit of luck, I think we're certainly going to be in with a shout. It's always not easy with him at this time of year because he's a non-sweater, so we have to be super cautious with him, which we have been. The staff have worked hard to try and keep him comfortable in this summer heat.”
Top Hong Kong dirt horse Gun Pit (Aus) (Dubawi {Ire}) was drawn gate five in the same trial and was quietly ridden by Zac Purton from third-last early. Scraping paint on the circle, he came out for the stretch run and ran on decently to finish fourth without being popped a serious question. The G1 Maktoum Challenge-R3 runner-up, Gun Pit, perfect in seven dirt tries in Hong Kong, will contest the K¥1-billion (US$830,000) Cup.
“He went all right,” said Purton. “It's only his first trial back so he's going to improve on that. I was hoping that he would have finished it off a bit better than he did, he just started to idle a bit in the last 100 [metres] and didn't quite run through the line. Fitness-wise, I think he will come on for that.”
Super Winner (Aus) (Kaphero {Aus}) will prep for the Sprint in a Kranji 'A' event going 1200 metres over the Polytrack Sunday afternoon. Third to the now-retired Zac Spirit (Aus) (Flying Spur {Aus}) in the Lion City Cup this past April, the 5-year-old enters his prep on a two-race winning skein and a strong runner-up effort in a recent trial over the synthetic track (video). Ironically, he'll square off in Sunday's race with El Padrino (NZ) (Mr Nancho {Arg}), who won the race now known as the Korea Sprint back in 2014.
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