I'm just gonna try really hard not to knock Tony Cruz here.

SCMP.....

Friday, February 15, 2008

Mascot foot problem not a worry for Cruz


MURRAY BELL

Trainer Tony Cruz is confident that a training setback this week will not hinder Sunday's Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby Trial favourite Helene Mascot, despite a veterinary opinion that the colt was lame after working yesterday.

Helene Mascot, brilliant winner of the Group One Classic Mile on January 20 at his first Hong Kong start, has been suffering from corns on the soles of both front feet. But a particularly painful one forced Cruz to abandon the colt's gallop last Sunday.

"Helene Mascot has had these issues with both front feet since he got here, but between the vets, the farriers and ourselves we are managing them," Cruz said yesterday.

"On Sunday morning, he was quite sore in the right front foot and I would not gallop him. The corn was cut away on Monday and he's recovered well. Every day, he's been better and better."

Yesterday, it was imperative that he gallop if he was to take his place in the Group Two Derby Trial (1,800m), the middle leg of the four-year-old triple crown. Not only did he gallop, but he worked impressively with stablemate Great Guy, clocking 46.5 seconds for 800 metres on turf down the riverside, the second half in 22.4 seconds.

After the gallop, Helene Mascot was inspected by Jockey Club veterinary officer Kenneth Lam Kah-ho, who told stewards the horse was still sore in that right front foot. The horse was later attended by a club farrier.

Cruz said the troublesome foot should continue to improve, and he was confident the son of 1997 European champion Peintre Celebre will make it to Sunday's race.

Felix Coetzee will again handle Helene Mascot on Sunday. Christophe Soumillon has switched to Win Practitioner for trainer Caspar Fownes, and Canadian Emma-Jayne Wilson takes over Visionario.

Feel better, Solar Mighty, Ab Champ and Medic Power.....

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...ws20080219.asp

Applause to Brettie and Douggie for always putting the kids first. :)

Cheers to Elfhelm (Happy Valley Million Challenge leader).

Possible runners, HK / Macau Trophy...

DANACOURT
EGYPTIAN RA
FIRM OFFER
FOKINE
FULL OF JOY
GOLD STRIKER
GOODY
GREAT GUY
HE CAN TANGO
HELENE BRILLIANT
HIGH POINT
IMPERIAL APPLAUSE
MY CHOICE
PLANET RULER
POCKET MONEY
REGENCY DRAGON
REGENCY HORSE
RIVER JORDAN
ROYAL PRINCE
SILVER SUN
SLOW WALTZ
SUNNY KING
SUPER TRAVELLER
SURVEY SURVEY
TIBER
WINNING REWARD

My favorite Macau horsie, WARCAT, is out.

Cheers to Ng for giving Emma-Jayne a couple of nice mounts on Wednesday.

Retired... Arrogance and Chosen One.

We passed our Vet exams!

ZERO GRAVITY
BEST POWER
FRIENDLY GAINS
LORD CAIRNS

Tuesday barrier trials.....

http://www.hkjc.com/english/press/btrs.asp

Awww, Fokine was retired. Green Treasure too.

Both Class 1 boys.

Go somewhere nice!

Gelded... Willing Storm :eek:

We're KEEPING our names!

Achilles of Troy
Plan X
Rich Forever
Wasabisabi

We're not...

Sauze D'Oulx is now Diligent 2 (named for.....)

http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/R...p?HorseNo=C285

Musanid is Extra Special


Be still my heart....

Race 7 - THE CITI HONG KONG GOLD CUP
Sunday, February 24, 2008, Sha Tin, 16:00
Turf ,"B+2" Course ,2000m

Prize Money: $8,000,000.00, Rating: -, Race Class: HONG KONG GROUP 1

HORSE Horse No. Name Brand No. Draw
Owner(s) Age Sex Rating
Rating+/- Handicap Weight Horse Wt. (Declaration) Wt.+/- (vs Declaration)
On Day Horse Wt. Wt.+/- (vs last race) Season Stakes Colour
Gear Import Cat. Sire Dam
Weight-For-Age Allowance

Horse No. Colour Horse Wt. Trainer Horse Wt. (Declaration) Rtg. Jockey Draw Brand No. Gear Rtg.+/- Wt.+/- (vs Declaration)
1 VIVA PATACA 126 J Moore 129 D Beadman 2 G096 H 0 -
2 BULLISH LUCK 126 A S Cruz 124 C Soumillon 7 C155 B/XB 6 -
3 FLORAL PEGASUS 126 A S Cruz 123 G Mosse 3 G011 TT 0 -
4 HELLO PRETTY 126 A S Cruz 123 B Prebble 5 E210 TT 5 -
5 VITAL KING 126 P O'Sullivan 118 E Saint-Martin 1 G222 B 0 -
6 SIR ERNESTO 126 D Cruz 113 O Doleuze 8 G051 SR -3 -
7 PACKING WINNER 126 L Ho 111 D Whyte 6 E334 0 -
8 BULLISH CASH 126 A S Cruz 99 F Coetzee 4 H049 TT 2 -



B : Blinkers BO : Blinker with one cowl only E : Ear Plugs H : Hood
M : Muzzle P : Pacifier PC : Pacifier with cowls SR : Shadow Roll
SW : Side Winkers TT : Tongue Tie V : Visor SB: Sheepskin Browband
SO: Side Winker 1 side "1" : First time "2" : Replaced "-" : Removed
CC: Cornell Collar XB: Crossed Nose Band

Notes:
"Horse Wt. (Declaration)" : Horse weight on two days before the race day
"Wt.+/-(vs last race)" : Change of horse weight between race day and last race day
"Wt.+/-(vs Declarations)" : Change of horse weight between race day and declaration day
"Stakes Won" : Stakes acquired in current racing season

Gelded... Willing Storm :eek:
=================

Oh for Heavens sakes.




I think it's time we all put our collective foots down on the sort of thing.


:mad:

No!

It's a way of life there and there's only one girl anyway ( Lady First who never wins, God bless her:D ) and so the horsies are told it's an honor and they get to go to THEGOODPLACE and BECOMESPECIAL!!!! :p

Yea for the special boys!!!!! :cool:

SCMP...

Cruz runners out to ruin Pataca's day


MURRAY BELL
Champion Viva Pataca will be a huge favourite but weight of numbers in Sunday's HK$8 million City Hong Kong Gold Cup rest with Tony Cruz, who will saddle up four of the seven opponents to Stanley Ho Hung-sun's colour bearer.
It's a representation stacked with interest, too, with Floral Pegasus going 2,000 metres for only the second time and Bullish Luck attempting a second win in the race to which he scorched to an upset victory as a five-year-old back in 2004.

But beyond that, it's the race Cruz has chosen as the comeback race for one of Hong Kong's best horses, Hello Pretty, who has been off the scene for over a year since his second to Armada, with Viva Pataca third, in the Stewards Cup last January.

"The reason he's running first-up at 2,000 metres is simply because of a lack of options," Cruz said. "Ideally, I'd like to give him a race at a shorter distance. The horse hasn't raced for 13 months, so he's probably waited long enough."

Hello Pretty has had to overcome two serious injuries, a strained tendon and a knee fracture. He's been in work for most of the season but had a setback in November. However, he was impressive in winning a mile trial on turf earlier this month and continues to work strongly.

"He's done a lot of work and he stands a very good chance too," Cruz said. "He can finish in the first three."

Brett Prebble, who won the 2006 International Cup Trial on Hello Pretty (beating Saturn and Viva Pataca), has regained the ride for owner Simon Kwok Siu-ming.

Floral Pegasus (Gerald Mosse) will be running for a ticket to Dubai. The Group One-winning miler was beaten by a nose by Vital King at his only try over 2,000 metres in last year's Derby after winning the Derby Trial over 1,800 metres.

Cruz's foursome is rounded out by Bullish Cash (Felix Coetzee).

Feel better, Massive Star and Gaucho.

Warcat is out of the Macau race..... :(

I don't know if I can take much more of this....:(

Course you can!

You LOVE HK racing!!!!! :D

:eek:

HKJC.....

Anthony Delpech requests termination of Club Jockey's agreement:(

23 February 2008

Racing Management this morning met with Jockey Anthony Delpech who advised that he wished for his current club jockey's agreement with the Club to be terminated with immediate effect.

Jockey Delpech stated that following the recent retirement of VENGEANCE OF RAIN together with the level of success he has been able to achieve during the current racing season, he wanted to immediately return to South Africa with his family. Jockey Delpech's request will now be placed before the Licensing Committee for their consideration.

Sir...I happen to LOVE HK racing.

Yeshis Maria.

On Viva P.....

http://racing.scmp.com/freeservice/n...ws20080224.asp

Good luck to Bullish and Hello Pretty and the other Bullish and Floral Peg.

Can't wait!

Aren't you excited Morty?

Lifeline Peg scratched... (feel better!).

Go Britannia switched to Millard (???).

Passed our Vet exam..... First Knight.

Saturday barrier trials..... (Exploding, Coetzee up wins batch 1... Puerto Rico disappoints again).

http://www.hkjc.com/english/press/btrs.asp

RACE 7(415)
Race Class: 3yo+ - 2000 Metres
THE CITI HONG KONG GOLD CUP
HK$ 8,000,000.00

Going : Good
Course : Turf - "B+2" Course
Race Time : (25.90) (51.2) (1.17.2) (1.41.6) (2.03.9)
Sectional Time : 25.90 25.30 26.00 24.40 22.30


Placing Horse No. Horse Jockey Actual Wt. Draw Length
Behind
Winner Finishing
Time
1 1 VIVA PATACA(G096) D Beadman 126 2 - 2.03.90
2 3 FLORAL PEGASUS(G011) G Mosse 126 3 2-3/4 2.04.40
3 2 BULLISH LUCK(C155) C Soumillon 126 7 2-3/4 2.04.40
4 7 PACKING WINNER(E334) D Whyte 126 6 3-1/4 2.04.40
5 4 HELLO PRETTY(E210) B Prebble 126 5 4 2.04.50
6 8 BULLISH CASH(H049) F Coetzee 126 4 5-1/2 2.04.80
7 5 VITAL KING(G222) E Saint-Martin 126 1 6 2.04.90
8 6 SIR ERNESTO(G051) O Doleuze 126 8 8-1/2 2.05.30

Racing Incident Report
BULLISH CASH bounded in the air at the start and lost ground. VITAL KING was sent for an official veterinary inspection. After the race, VITAL KING was examined by the Veterinary Officer. He said an endoscopic examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse's trachea. Before being allowed to race again, VITAL KING will be subjected to an official veterinary examination. VIVA PATACA and FLORAL PEGASUS were sent for sampling.

Oh yeah, lest I forget and in fairness, cheers to Tony Cruz for taking his time with Hello Pretty.

Feel better, My Faith, Local Power and My Luck.

Retired... Courageousheart.

Gelded... Here We Go.

Passed vet exam... The Goodies.

Tuesday barrier trial(s).....

http://www.hkjc.com/english/press/btrs.asp

New kids...

Hit Song (to Moore)
Norman Invader (Cruz)
Haybrook (Millard)

King of the world! :D

Elfhelm leads the HVMC with 55.....

HK sparkles in the HK Macau Trophy.... top four finishers...:)