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#21
06-08-2008, 02:11 AM
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#22
06-08-2008, 02:11 AM
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#25
06-08-2008, 07:35 AM
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Here is the English version for those who can access the link:
http://66.209.93.91/racereplays/repl...d1a2b1f2237e1a
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#26
06-08-2008, 10:12 AM
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HKJC.....
As an aside, if they're gonna call him After the Dance, they should call Bullish by his former name too I suppose...  I heard from someone there that Good Ba Ba looked awful before the race. * * * Armada second to Vodka in Yasuda Kinen 8 June 2008 John Size's first overseas foray ended happily as Armada emerged with huge credit to run second to tearaway winner Vodka in the 58th running of the Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo on Sunday. Good Ba Ba, however, on whom the majority of Hong Kong's were pinned, delivered nothing but anticlimax. The horse that had strung together four straight major titles to rank among the world's top ten could finish only 17th. Bullish Luck, meanwhile, also disappointed and trailed home in 14th place. A widening three and a half lengths separated Vodka from Armada in second and Size, though very proud of his runner's courageous performance, said the victorious mare - winning for the first time since the Japanese Derby a year ago- was "different class". Reflecting on the race, Size said: "I asked Douglas [Whyte, jockey] to press on from the wide barrier and to put him in the race and he did everything right. In the run I was extremely pleased, but it would have been impossible for him to beat the winner on the day - she was explosive. She was well drawn in five and followed Armada but then went past him like he was standing still before the 200m." Size, in touching distance of a fifth Hong Kong trainers' premiership in seven years, has been buoyed by the positive outcome and may consider a return trip. "I'll bring him back if he's in good form next year. I was confident that he'd travel well and deliver on the day and he has done the best that he can do. You can't ask for more than that," he said. Andreas Schutz was naturally deflated by Good Ba Ba's no-show but refused to specify any particular excuse. "It's a disappointing end to the season because we haven't seen the true Good Ba Ba today. If he had finished fourth you could say he's beaten by better horses on the day, but to finish where he did.... I think we should scratch the form and look forward to next season. "He was a little further forward than I thought he would be but he was tracking the winner," Schutz continued, "and going into the turn Olivier said he sort of stumbled on the loose track and suddenly he had no more horse underneath him when the winner kicked. In the straight he was squeezed by Bullish Luck but basically the race was over for us by then. "I don't think it was a case of him coming here after a long season. What worried me was that he got very excited at the start and he didn't do that last year [when seventh in this race]. Olivier said to me after the race that he could feel inside that he was not quite right. "Armada has run second today and we beat him fair and square in the Champions Mile by a length with something still in the tank. So on Hong Kong form we could have performed like Vodka did - but today was just an off-day." Bullish Luck was another to endure a sub-par performance and his finishing position came as a surprise to jockey Brett Prebble. "At the 700m I thought I would win, he was going so well. But then in the straight he hung in very badly and it felt like he might have been feeling something," Prebble said. "I know he's an older horse but that run wasn't like him. He probably didn't really appreciate the sort of shifty, used ground out there but it was the way he hung in under pressure that concerned me." As regards Vodka, her victory was another major title for Katsuhiko Sumii and jockey Yasunari Iwata who famously combined to win the Melbourne Cup in 2006 with Delta Blues. Iwata said he only found out he was riding the mare in the newspaper in the days leading up to the race as previous rider Yutaka Take was committed to the mount on Suzuka Phoenix. Vodka will now have a break and return in the Autumn with a crack at the Tenno Sho her initial objective.
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#27
06-08-2008, 07:09 PM
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"He (Bullish Luck) owes no one anything," Brett Prebble on Bullish Luck.
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#28
06-08-2008, 09:39 PM
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#29
06-08-2008, 11:04 PM
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As an aside, just cause I bring him up every chance i get, the year Armada won most improved... http://www.hkjc.com/english/special/...sp?cat=2&chn=7 ... was the same year Bulldozer (swoon) was up for champion griffin. http://www.hkjc.com/english/special/...sp?cat=2&chn=6 He didn't win. Trying to remember why Armada was gone for a year... Check out who he beat home here... http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/r...2007&raceno=08 and here... http://www.hkjc.com/english/racing/r...2006&raceno=08 Stellar fields! He was 2nd to Ba Ba once (or twice? Would have to check). Excerpt, Top 50 as of June 6th... can't wait to see the next list! God I love these guys.   130 SACRED KINGDOM G268 P F Yiu 129 GOOD BA BA E201 A Schutz 129 VIVA PATACA G096 J Moore 126 ARMADA E246 J Size 123 BULLISH LUCK C155 A S Cruz 123 FLORAL PEGASUS G011 A S Cruz 123 PACKING WINNER E334 L Ho 121 HELLO PRETTY E210 A S Cruz
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