8YO Jolly Banner flies high in Premier Cup

Jun 23, 2020 06:00 am

Jolly Banner showed plenty of vim for a veteran at Sha Tin on Sunday, battling past younger rivals to win the Group 3 Premier Cup over 1,400m.

"Amazing - he's an amazing horse," said leading trainer Ricky Yiu, after the eight-year-old maintained his record of winning at least one race in each of his six seasons under Matthew Poon.

Fittingly, the faithful stalwart edged his handler closer to a first premiership title, with Yiu bagging a double with Good Luck Charm to take his score to 61 wins and a five-win lead over Tony Cruz.

"It's encouraging! That win's very important," Yiu said.

"Jolly Banner has won a Group 3 at 1,000m, but this is his best trip. With the light weight, he can fly. He's a different horse with a light weight.

"We've always spaced his runs. We run him every two months - seven or eight weeks - so he came here in perfect condition. Health-wise, there's nothing wrong with him and that's why he's maintained his performance at eight years old." - HKJC