Cheers a muddy marvel as Allan makes Cup his own
In the darkening gloom of rainswept Sha Tin yesterday, Cheers Hong Kong was anything but a topical tip as he defied his sprinting pedigree and the ugly conditions to give trainer Ivan Allan a remarkable fifth consecutive win in the ING Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup.
Champion jockey Douglas Whyte had not much more than a steering job to give Allan his sixth win in the past seven runnings of the Triple Crown third leg and set Cheers Hong Kong on a path to the international Hong Kong Vase in December.
'He was entered for Singapore last week too but when we didn't go, I told his owners that it would probably make him the horse to beat coming fresh into this race and that's how it has worked out,' Allan said. 'It's always nice to see a plan come off, and anyway I think he would have struggled a bit in Singapore. The 2,000 metres on firm going would have been too short for him.'
More than 40mm of rain fell on Sha Tin during the meeting but Cheers Hong Kong ploughed through the mud to beat Helene Vitality by more than two lengths.
While Cheers Hong Kong stayed home last week, nine-year-old warrior Indigenous did race in Singapore for a gallant third but was a shadow of himself yesterday, beaten at halfway and dropping out to finish in front of only Rainbow And Gold, which bled.
'I suppose if we had a good track, we might have got away with backing him up seven days after racing with a flight in between,' Allan said. 'But in these sorts of conditions it was just too much. It's a shame to see him run like that but you have to try everything in this game.'
Indigenous also carried a fitness cloud after running a temperature towards the end of the week but was passed fit by the club vets on Saturday.
The winner is not bred to get 2,400 metres in such torrid conditions. In fact, he is not bred to get the trip at all. 'Really, his pedigree says he is a 1,400 metres horse,' Allan conceded. 'But all his career, he has been looking for more ground.
'He ran very well in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, finishing his race off at 2,000 metres, and then he ran a terrific race in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. If you forgot about breeding and just looked at how he races, he has been screaming for 2,400 metres all his career. And the give in the ground and having a lucky owner helped.'
Whyte went a step further on the subject of the going. 'I think he's five or six lengths better in these sort of conditions. He stayed the 2,400 metres and though it might have looked like he found the last 100 metres a long way, he didn't find it as far as the ones chasing him,' he said.
Allan and Whyte had concocted a pre-race plan to put Cheers Hong Kong into the race more than usual. 'We agreed that giving away a big start today was not ideal, and Douglas wanted to stay away from the fence so it was all part of the plan when he moved up into the race at the 800 metres,' Allan said.
Whyte said he passed Indigenous around that point and couldn't believe how well Cheers Hong Kong was travelling. 'Really, I got worried that I might be coming too quickly into the race and would get to the front too early I was going that well,' he said.
'He had a great preparation for the race, probably the best preparation of any runner and everything just worked out perfectly. He got the going he prefers and the way the fence is chopped up today I was quite happy to be out in barrier 11 too.'
When Cheers Hong Kong seemed to be faltering for stamina in the last 100 metres, Dwayne Dunn picked up his rate on runner-up Helene Vitality but he was unable to make much leeway. It was another major placing for Helene Vitality, but he emerged with plenty of credit on ground that was unsuitable.
'It's a crying shame that the rain came today,' said trainer David Hayes. 'He just doesn't handle it and Dwayne said he was dipping all through the race. But he showed great heart and his staying ability kept him going to finish second.
'I know he hasn't won a race this season but he has run second in Dubai, second here and in the Gold Cup and ran a great race in the Hong Kong Vase. Helene Vitality has probably won $5 million or $6 million prize money this season and really deserves to be the champion stayer for the season. On firm ground today he would probably have won.'
Hayes said the gelding's Melbourne Cup plans had probably received a boost yesterday. 'It was an $8 million race and I would have loved to win it, but if you're looking for a positive in defeat then running second means he won't be penalised in the Melbourne Cup handicaps for that,' Hayes said.
'The way he stays on, the 3,200 metres at Flemington is going to be perfect for him and he showed the right sort of courage today in unsuitable conditions to say that he's the right kind of horse.
'He'll go for a good spell now and come back with the Melbourne Cup as his first aim.'
Greenmore ran a bold race for third at his first 2,400 metres attempt and last year's Hong Kong Gold Cup winner, Idol, showed again that he needs soft going to show form these days.
'He just keeps rolling on at the one speed and the give in the ground helps him, for sure,' said trainer David Oughton, who now plans to run Idol again in the Queen Mother's Memorial Cup on June 9 as his season's swansong. 'A bit of rain there and he'll be right in it,' added Oughton.
