Sunday, February 03, 2008
Bullish Luck floors younger rivals
Even Cruz is taken by surprise after veteran handles soft track with utmost ease
MURRAY BELL
Bullish Luck, ridden by Christophe Soumillon, finishes well ahead of his rivals in the Centenary Vase. His closest challenger, Vital King, crossed the line three lengths behind the winner. Photos: Kenneth Chan
While one champion abdicated another confirmed his status as Bullish Luck swept unexpectedly to a runaway victory in the Group Three Centenary Vase and gave the upcoming Hong Kong Gold Cup a very bullish look indeed.
While 2007 Horse of the Year Vengeance Of Rain was retired from the race as a prelude to being retired from the game, it was left to the 2006 Horse of the Year to show the young guns a thing or two.
Bullish Luck seems to have been around for ages, and indeed he has. The American-bred son of Royal Academy first came to prominence winning the Hong Kong Gold Cup in 2004 and he'll now target the race again, four years down the track, on February 24.
Even trainer Tony Cruz was amazed as nine-year-old Bullish Luck came from last of the main pack, threaded his way through the field and raced away to score by three lengths from last year's Derby hero Vital King (Brett Prebble).
"He's an incredible horse and it's all the more amazing because he's had to overcome two separate injuries to even be here," Cruz said. "It all started when he was stripped from behind in the Dubai World Cup last year.
"He's had another [suspensory ligament] problem more recently but I really think they've been compensation injuries to his left leg, while he was looking after and protecting his right leg."
The greater part of the surprise with Bullish Luck was not so much that he won, because any horse that has won 10 races and HK$60.6 million is hard to underestimate. It's that he handled the yielding track conditions so adeptly, as Cruz has always maintained he's a hard-track horse.
"That's the part that has surprised me, but I guess the horse is evolving with age," Cruz said. "He's never enjoyed racing on soft tracks before but today, he has sprinted home like he always did on top of the ground."
The trainer made special acknowledgment of expatriate work rider Craig Peddie, who has been riding Bullish Luck in the majority of his morning work. "Craig's been doing a great job on Bullish Luck, and he was confident he'd race well, even with the wet," Cruz said.
The trainer said winning jockey Christophe Soumillon had accepted the ride on stablemate Bullish Cash, also owned by Wong Wing-keung, in the Gold Cup but would now be free to ride whichever one he pleased.
"I'll leave that to Christophe to choose, he's earned that," he added.
Bullish Luck has been a giant in Hong Kong racing, winning four Group Ones - the 2004 Gold Cup, the 2005 Stewards Cup and successive editions of the Champions Mile (2005-06). He also smashed Japan's best milers under Brett Prebble to win the 2006 Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo.
Soumillon is no stranger to Bullish Luck. It was he who partnered him to that spectacular last-to-first Stewards Cup win in 2005, as well as a fighting second to Super Kid in the Gold Cup the following month.
"I did not think I would have a ride in this race but when I saw Bullish Luck was entered, I rang Tony straight away," Soumillon said. "I am so happy because although this was not a Group One race today, he is very definitely a Group One horse and it was wonderful to feel that calibre of horse underneath me again.
"With everyone believing he could not handle softer tracks, naturally I was concerned, but in the race he travelled very strongly and was very sure in his footing. We were held up a little bit in the straight, waiting for a run but when it came he quickened up instantly and exploded away from them."
Bullish Luck completed a double for Cruz, who earlier welcomed the opening race winner Floral Joy II (Marco Chui Kwan-lai), a horse who gallops like a topliner but will be limited by an inoperable wind infirmity.
"It's very disappointing because he gallops like a horse with Class One ability," Cruz said. "But he is a grade three, left-side roarer and the vets say that's too bad to operate on. So the condition can get worse but he definitely cannot get any better."
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