Hail Victor The Winner
HONG KONG Trainer Danny Shum will plot a path towards the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1,200m) on Dec 10 with Victor The Winner after the lightly raced gelding toppled Lucky Sweynesse – the world’s highest-rated sprinter – in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1,200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Notching his sixth win over 1,200m, Victor The Winner led all the way under 115lb (52.2kg) with Karis Teetan astride. He exploited a substantial weight advantage to account for Lucky Sweynesse (135lb) by 2½ lengths in 1min 09.87sec on rain-affected ground.
Victor The Winner, who gave Shum his sixth HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup, has long impressed the trainer with his talent.
After rising from a rating of 52 points to 106 before Sunday’s triumph, the Toronado five-year-old will now be given the chance to validate the trainer’s opinion.
“I knew he was a good horse after his first trial. I said to the owner ‘Come to his first race, bring your wife, the horse will be hard to beat’,” said Shum, who also scored with Champion Method and Supreme Lucky (both ridden by champion jockey Zac Purton).
“Victor The Winner will go to set weights now with his rating so, hopefully, he can go to Group races now. In December, the Sprint race is the aim. He’s a good horse. Today, with a light weight, a wet track and the pace – Karis held the pace fantastic – he was able to win.”
Allowed to saunter unchallenged through the first 400m in 25.01sec, before gradually accelerating with sectionals of 23.46 and 21.40, Teetan executed Shum’s race plan to perfection. Lucky Sweynesse – still short of maximum fitness – struggled to bridge the gap under his weight.
“I think I won the race in the first 400m when he got his own way, and he was really comfortable. Into the straight, when I picked him up, he really gave me a kick,” said Teetan.
Purton said Lucky Sweynesse’s run was “really good”.
“It’s not easy – he had one trial coming into this race, having to give 20lb away on a soft track and the poorest run of his career previously was on a soft track, so he had all that against him,” added the six-time Hong Kong champion. - HKJC
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