Marshal enters Derby picture
Derby-winning trainer Tony Millard threw out a test for Jockey Club officials at Happy Valley last night when Keen Marshal ground himself back into the picture for the 2003 Hong Kong Derby.
'It will be interesting to see what happens, because this is a horse who is coming right at the right time and he really will stay,' Millard said after Keen Marshal (Olivier Doleuze) outstayed his rivals in the Class Three seventh race over 1,800 metres, and wrapped up a double for both jockey and trainer in winning for the third time in five runs.
'When he gets to 2,000 metres you will really see what this horse can do. But with these tried horses being imported with high ratings, it makes it tough for the horse on the rise to get into the Derby field. It makes it harder to develop a Derby horse.'
Millard won the 2000 Derby with Keen Winner for the same connections after that horse climbed quickly through the ratings in the lead-up to the race, but he fears that with owners purchasing highly rated horses as readymade Derby runners the opportunities are growing more scarce.
'He will run again between now and the selection of the Derby field, and it will be interesting to see what these highly-rated horses do in the meantime because he is deserving of his chance,' Millard said.
Millard's double with Fortune Road (Douglas Whyte) and Keen Marshal was well-timed, too, as his parents were in town on holiday. 'They've been in Singapore and then came here on a cruise and it's great to have them here,' he said.
Remarkably, Doleuze had not ridden a winner since December 18, combining a dry spell with two successive suspensions but turned it all around in half an hour, scoring for Derek Cruz on debutant Sunbell in race six before backing up on Keen Marshal in the next race.
'Hey! I haven't seen you guys for a while!' the exuberant Doleuze said to members of the press, though he had a few anxious moments again after the final race.
Stewards threw out a protest by Whyte on fourth-placed Packing Angel against third placegetter Bobo Duck, ridden by Doleuze, for interference in the last race, and the French jockey was a relieved man when they decided he had no case to answer.
Weichong Marwing was not so lucky on Triccolo, though, when he was handed a four-day ban which will keep him out of the Hong Kong Gold Cup. Marwing will ride on Sunday before the suspension commences.
Also returning from a ban last night was Christophe Soumillon, who won the incident-packed eighth on The Duke for Lawrie Fownes.
'We took the blinkers off tonight as we wanted him to settle better for the 1,650 metres and that was an impressive performance,' Fownes said. 'He is just a three-year-old and Christophe said he thought The Duke still had quite a bit to learn but he's got tons of potential.'
Fownes said his only regret was that The Duke scored at his second run over 1,650 metres not his first. 'If he had won that night, we would have won the million dollar sale bonus,' he laughed.
On a night dominated by inside draws and on pace horses, Sean Woods also managed to conjure a new trick out of El Viento (Robbie Fradd), as the grey won beyond 1,400 metres for the first time.
'It's been hard to get him to settle down, he was a difficult horse when he came to me but the staff have worked very hard and now you see he is relaxing,' Woods said.
