Trainer Moore Aims to Add to Champions Mile Success

Sha Tin hosts a group 1 doubleheader May 7 and, while the races are largely intramural affairs, the paucity of international competition doesn't lessen the interest.

 

John Moore has trained five of the past seven winners of the Champions Mile (G1) and has a good shot to up that score on Sunday with 4-year-old Rapper Dragon and 5-year-old Helene Paragon in a short field of just seven.

 

Rapper Dragon leads an elite group of 4-year-olds after an historic sweep of the Classic 4-Year-Old Series this season.

"He's the best horse in Hong Kong," said his rider, Joao "Magic Man" Moreira, arguably the best jockey in Hong Kong, after Wednesday morning trackwork. Rapper Dragon has won four straight races and is undefeated at the distance over the Sha Tin turf.

 

Helene Paragon finished second in the Longines Hong Kong Mile (G1) in December, then won a pair at the highest level. The French-bred has tossed in two recent clunkers, though.

 

On form, the main threat in the Champions Mile should be Beauty Only, winner of the Hong Kong Mile in December. But that 6-year-old Irish-bred, trained by Tony Cruz, has been well beaten in his past three outings.

 

The international contingent is Stormy Antarctic and Convey, both representing England. The former has a modest resume featuring a second to Johannes Vermeer in the Criterium International (G1) at Saint-Cloud in France as a 2-year-old. The latter won the Winter Derby (G3) and the All-Weather Middle Distance Championship in England. He has had less success on green courses but may have turned a corner since being gelded during the winter and should not be ignored.

 

The entire field in the Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1) is based in Hong Kong. It's also a strong and competitive field featuring Aerovelocity, a group 1 winner in three countries and victor in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint (G1) last December. As of Thursday, though, Aerovelocity was on a veterinarian's watch list because of "lameness" in his right fore leg.

 

Lucky Bubbles was second in this race last year behind Australian superstar Chautauqua and second to Aerovelocity in December. Peniaphobia was third in the December race. Mr. Stunning, another upward-trending 4-year-old, jumped up to win the Sprint Cup (G2) last month and isn't handicapped by regular rider Moreira.

 

The others have a lot to do in this company. Amazing Kids and Not Listenin'tome have had their moments in Hong Kong and both return after unproductive efforts on World Cup night in Dubai.

 

The Chairman's Sprint Prize is the fourth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, which offers a $1 million prize to any horse winning three of the 10 races in three different jurisdictions. The first three legs went to three different horses, none of which appear likely to pursue the bonus.