Voyage Bubble (Deep Field) streaked to a three-and-a-half-length victory in Sunday's G1 HK$13 million Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin, in the process becoming become only the second horse in Hong Kong racing history after River Verdon in 1993/94 to complete the Triple Crown.
Following victories in the G1 Stewards' Cup (1600m) and G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), Voyage Bubble was chased home by a pair of high-class four-year-olds, Rubylot and Cap Ferrat, as he secured the Triple Crown bonus of HK$10-million for also winning the 2400m Champions & Chaters Cup–Hong Kong's 12th and final Group 1 of the season.
Winning jockey James McDonald revealed he thought the prize was in safe keeping with 600 metres to run, after Zac Purton's mid-race move aboard Ensued to join Moments In Time and Dubai Honour at the head of affairs. With Ensued's acceleration stringing out the 10-horse field, McDonald simply bided his time before gradually upping the tempo and hitting the front approaching the final furlong. From there he powered clear to run out a decisive winner in a time of 2:26.67, with British raider Dubai Honour faring best of those who helped to force the strong pace in fourth.
“I couldn't have dreamed of it panning out as well as that–that's once in a blue moon,” said McDonald. “The stars aligned and, with that sort of run, he was always going to be hard to beat. He was going to be hard to beat even without such a good run, but it all worked out.
“He's a brilliant horse. He keeps raising the bar and he keeps on surprising every time I ride him. I just want to pay credit to the [Ricky] Yiu stable. They've done a remarkable job with this horse. They've got a champion racehorse on their hands and he [Voyage Bubble] deserves all the accolades he gets. It's awesome–I'm very proud of him.”
Ricky Yiu, who has trained a string of champion sprinters including Sacred Kingdom, Fairy King Prawn and Amber Sky, was jubilant after saddling his first winner at 2,400 metres.
“Dreams came true,” he summed up. “Since I won the first two legs of the Triple Crown I started dreaming. Now today, dreams have come true–it's amazing. If you look at him, you can tell he's a high-class racehorse. He's performed up from a sprint to the maximum distance in Hong Kong–he's a genius. When we first ran him over 1,200 and 1,400 metres, it was like a game for him. The whole team is thrilled.”
It doesn't get much better than this! 🙌
31 years on since River Verdon, Hong Kong racing celebrated a second #TripleCrown champion with Voyage Bubble at Sha Tin this afternoon… 👑@WorldPool | @mcacajamez | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/IxPBsMfTmG
— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) May 25, 2025
Pedigree Notes
Voyage Bubble is one of seven winners from as many runners out of the Rahy mare Raheights, with the others including the G3 P J Bell Stakes heroine Diddums (Snitzel) and the Listed-placed Brettan (Commands). Diddums, in turn, is the dam of this year's Listed-winning juvenile Stardom (Zoustar). Voyage Bubble's second dam, Laoub (Red Ransom), is a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year and champion grass mare Never Retreat (Smart Strike), who won five graded races, among them the GI First Lady Stakes.
Sunday, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
STANDARD CHARTERED CHAMPIONS & CHATER CUP-G1, HK$13,000,000, Sha Tin, 5-25, 3yo/up, 2400mT, 2:26.67, gd.
1–VOYAGE BUBBLE (AUS), 126, g, 6, by Deep Field (Aus)
1st Dam: Raheights (Aus), by Rahy
2nd Dam: Laoub, by Red Ransom
3rd Dam: Lisieux, by Steady Growth
(A$380,000 Ylg '20 INGFEB). O-Sunshine And Moonlight
Syndicate; B-Torryburn Stud (NSW); T-Ricky Yiu; J-James
McDonald. HK$7,280,000. Lifetime Record: 26-11-7-3,
$12,358,395. *1/2 to Diddums (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}),
GSW-Aus, $164,688; and Brettan (Aus) (Commands {Aus}),
SP-Aus. Werk Nick Rating: D+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Rubylot (Aus), 126, g, 4, Rubick (Aus)–Emirates Comfort (Ire),
by Dubawi (Ire). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK
TYPE. (A$100,000 2yo '22 INGOCT). O-HK Football Club Horse
Racing Syndicate. B-Woodpark Stud (Aus). T-David Hayes.
HK$2,730,000.
3–Cap Ferrat (Aus), 126, g, 4, Snitzel (Aus)–C'Est Beau La Vie
(Aus), by Bernardini. (A$1,400,000 Ylg '22 INGAPR). O-Karen
Lo Ki Yan. B-Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd (Aus). T-Francis Lui.
HK$1,495,000.
Margins: 3HF, HF, NK. Odds: 1.80, 19.00, 15.00.
Also Ran: Dubai Honour (Ire), Bundle Award (Aus), Ensued, Five G Patch (Ire), Winning Dragon (Chi), La City Blanche (Arg), Moments In Time (Chi). Click for the HKJC chart & video.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
