Bear run boosts Lane's stocks for season
Queen Elizabeth once described her personal horror year as annus horribilis. Trainer Geoff Lane's description of his current season was more French than Latin, but it was looking a whole lot better after Bear Supremo stormed down the centre of the track to an easy win in yesterday's $1 million Association of HK Racing Journalists Cup at Sha Tin.
Even though he thumped a Derby hopeful in Keen Marshall, who finished 2.25 lengths behind him in third place, Lane said a start in the classic in two weeks time was the furthest thing from his mind. 'It's not what I want to do with him at all,' Lane said. 'I just want to keep him a bit fresh, space his runs and look around for a suitable race for him in about a month's time.'
Lane said the 2002-2003 season had been one of his less memorable. 'Things haven't been going as well as I'd like and, in fact, this horse [Bear Supremo] would have been my last winner [February 8].'
Frenchman Eric Saint-Martin is building up a nice relationship with the Irish-bred four-year-old, having ridden him twice now for two wins. Yesterday he balanced Bear Supremo near the tail of the field and produced him wide out in the straight, though any extra ground he covered on the turn was compensated by the fact he had clear passage - a privilege that favourite and runner-up Multiwinning did not enjoy.
The gelding has now raced seven times for three wins, two third and two fourths, never failing to bring home a cheque for owner Peter Fan. Yesterday's Class Two win saw his bankroll swell to just over $1.6 million.
And according to his trainer, that's just a deposit. 'We bought him as a two-year-old at the International Sale here in December and Peter was keen to chase the $1 million bonus attached to the sale,' Lane explained. 'I told him to be patient, because the horse will earn two or three million dollars more by not chasing the bonus. And at this stage, it's all going the right way.'
Bear Supremo is a son of Danehill's three-time Group One winning son Desert King, who was rated the second-best three-year-old in Europe in 1997 (behind champion Peintre Celebre).
The Cup winner also represented the second leg of a double for Saint-Martin, who had earlier guided gelding Cheerful Fortune to a win in the the fifth event for trainer Andy Leung Ting-wah.
