Fairy King Prawn has been handed a ticket to run in the $10 million Hong Kong Sprint - but with the proviso that, along with all other invited runners, he must pass a fitness test a week before the International Races.
The former dual Horse of the Year has not raced for almost 14 months due to injury and his selection for the 1,000-metre Group One race was in doubt after he failed to take his place in last weekend's International Sprint Trial - an event contested by all of Hong Kong's other top candidates for a berth in the Sprint. But the Jockey Club yesterday gave him the green light provided he can pass a veterinary exam.
Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Jockey Club's director of racing, said: 'We are aware of the issues surrounding Fairy King Prawn and seven or eight days before the race we will have an additional veterinary examination for horses in Hong Kong to make sure they are suitable to race - not just Fairy King Prawn, but all horses. It will be the same for the overseas runners, who will be checked before they get on the plane to come here.' He said reserves had been lined up but refused to divulge their names.
Ivan Allan, who trains Fairy King Prawn, insisted the arrangement would prove unnecessary whether the horse was fit or not. 'It won't come down to a veterinary examination - if I'm not happy with the horse and I think he's not ready, I'll tell them long before that,' he said. 'The real test will come when I put some pressure on the horse in his work. He's OK after his barrier trial last week and he's back in light work. He would pass the vet now.'
Fairy King Prawn has not raced since October 1 last year due to a damaged suspensory ligament and last week's barrier trial was his first since that run. But he remains the highest-rated horse in the 14-runner field on a mark of 119, having been the world's joint-top older turf sprinter in 2001, and was Hong Kong's last winner at the International meeting when taking the 1999 Sprint.
Hong Kong's other three representatives will be All Thrills Too and Cape Of Good Hope - the first two in the Sprint Trial - and the Allan-trained Firebolt, who was fifth in that race. But there was no place for Anabatik and Thunder, who were third and fourth in the Sprint Trial, nor for domestic Group One winner Charming City.