Trainer Tony Millard labelled Ambitious Dragon a “super champion” after the reigning Horse of the Year overcame a lameness scare and won the HK$20 million Longines Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin today.
The six-year-old came from well back in the field for jockey Zac Purton to overhaul the pretender, Glorious Days (Douglas Whyte), and deliver an emphatic statement: “I am the boss”.
Another Hong Kong horse, Packing Ok, ran third.
Ambitious Dragon was lame yesterday and only passed a vet examination this morning after being walked for hours and hours by Millard’s staff.
“He’s a super champion,” South African Millard said. “I really have to thank my staff, who went the extra yards and the vets, who gave us great advice. We were up to 11 last night walking the horse and we brought him out this morning and he improved every hour and got better and better.”
"Race fans cheer over victory of local stable star" Video by Hedy Bok
Ambitious Dragon began the season in great fashion, beating Glorious Days but the John Size-trained horse turned the tables on him in the mile trial. A bad draw of 11 and then the lameness issue saw many of the Dragon’s fans desert him and he drifted in betting.
“I was very happy with the pace being on and I had said to Zac, ‘don’t panic, just wait’. When I saw him picking them up at the 400 I thought ‘Oh my god, I hope he doesn’t flatten out again’.”
Purton said he had everything under control and “it was a pretty soft win”.
“I didn’t have much option when drawn out there but to switch him off. I was more concerned about getting the horse in rhythm and getting him breathing right and making sure he was happy, not what was going on in front of us. I knew I had the horse underneath me.
“The pace was nice and I could wait until the straight and slowly let him down. Obviously racing against international horses you can’t sit up and look pretty as you can against domestic horses.
“In the end I never hit him - it was a pretty soft win.”
Purton said he believed the injury was not a factor and praised Millard and his staff for getting the champion to the races.
“I don’t think he felt it. Obviously it was a worry last night and Tony and his staff have done a fantastic job to get him in condition to race and also turn him around from that flat run second-up.”
It has been a memorable year for Australian Purton, winning at Royal Ascot on Little Bridge, winning a world jockeys’ series in Japan and getting married.
“It’s been very special,” he said, adding that beating Whyte was even more satisfying.
“Douglas was a bit cheeky last time when he went over the line pointing the finger at me so I returned the serve. We won the race that counts.”
Millard had the final word saying: “It’s going to be a helluva night, tonight.”
