Moore stable's dead-set day out
THEY both thought they'd met defeat and in the end they both triumphed as the Tony Cruz-ridden Makarpura Star and Greg Childs' mount, Survey King, dead-heated in a pulsating finish to yesterday's $3.1 million Champions and Chater Cup at Sha Tin.
A crowd of some 43,000 were left agonising for over 15 minutes as the judge, C. C. Lam, pored over the photo-finish print to determine who had won the end-of-season, 2,400-metre staying championship.
From the stands it was impossible to split them as they flashed past the post, Survey King fighting back after Makarpura Star had kicked a neck clear looking all over the winner.
Finally the camera couldn't split the John Moore-trained pair either.
There was not a whisker between them as they pulled a yawning 41/2 lengths clear of Privilege who held off Deerfield's determined late challenge for third.
There were smiles all round as the dead-heat flashed up on the screens.
'I thought he was going to win halfway up the straight but he lost concentration,' said Cruz about Derby and Gold Cup winner Makarpura Star who, barring an outstanding win from Mr Vitality in next Saturday's Sha Tin Vase, is set to be crowned Horse Of The Year.
'I was on the outsider and neither myself nor John [Moore] were entirely happy with the way he was working so I can't complain about the result. I'm more than happy with the dead-heat,' said Childs.
