There were stories behind him yesterday and there are mountains still ahead but underrated four-year-old Gold-Fun burst into the limelight from his summer recess with a National Day Cup win that set him on a path to December.
For jockey Olivier Doleuze it was the end of a long wait to win a race for last season's new big owner, Pan Sutong, after the French rider did so much preparatory work with Classic Mile winner Gold-Fun and eventual Derby winner Akeed Mofeed, only to see himself missing from them in their triumphs.
"I am happy to win the first race for Mr Pan - there's been a lot of stories, but at least I've kicked one goal for him and that's a relief of the pressure," Doleuze said after a devastating burst from Gold-Fun at the 250m that shot him clear to score with real authority. "It seemed like he had improved during the break and his gallop on the grass was outstanding."
There were question marks over how last season's four-year-olds might measure up in the open Group class population but Gold-Fun, runner-up Blazing Speed and Derby fourth Rainbow Chic, fourth again yesterday, went a long way to answering the query.
"Full credit to the team for having him so ready and that was his most impressive run so far," said trainer Richard Gibson. "His turn of foot was outstanding. With his rating, his path forward now is very clear - he goes to the Sha Tin Trophy at the end of the month and we'll see how he fares against Military Attack and Ambitious Dragon and the very best Hong Kong has."
Gold-Fun found himself thrust forward into most of his races last season and applied himself manfully, but missing a clean break yesterday allowed him to show acceleration which hadn't been seen before.
"The race didn't work out the way I had planned - I planned to go forward, to ride him more aggressively, but because of what happened at the start I had to change my plans and I am happy to see that he can be flexible," Doleuze said. "He still hangs a little bit, and wants to look everywhere but he is just going to be like that, and we probably are not going to change it, but it doesn't affect the fact he can really kick. Actually, when I asked him, I was not expecting him to react that fast - but he went whoosh."
Back in the ruck was Akeed Mofeed, big and full of himself after a long break, laying in and grinding into midfield. Douglas Whyte was taken to task by the stewards for not testing his mount more strongly and earlier, but Gibson said he felt saddling up that distance and fitness was going to see Akeed Mofeed play second fiddle to his less charismatic stablemate, Gold-Fun.
"I looked at him and thought 'big in condition, 1,400m, this is a big ask'," Gibson said later. "I haven't had a chance to look at the replay yet but he is going to take racing and my feeling is we're going to need to go longer than this to see the best of him."
Lightweight Blazing Speed narrowly took second ahead of the Caspar Fownes-trained Champions Mile runner-up, Helene Spirit, who had to survive a protest from another Fownes runner, Rainbow Chic, to keep third. "Helene Spirit's run great with the big weight and he'll be better suited when we get back to set weights and what can I say with Rainbow Chic? He just looked very unlucky - he was badly held up and should have gone close to winning," Fownes said. "His rating is too low yet to get him into the Sha Tin Trophy so I'll have to find a softer target."
Others happy with their lot were John Moore - who said dual Group One winner Xtension would improve after a tough wide run and Admiration will drop back to 1,200m instead of going up to a mile - and John Size after Real Specialist's seventh returning from a seven-month break. Only Tony Cruz was left to ponder what might have been with favourite Bullish Champion, pocketed behind the leader for the whole race and never able to issue a challenge.
