HK runners gallant in defeat to German speed machine

Hong Kong's Bowman's Crossing and Ain't Here ran their hearts out at Kranji last night for third and fourth placings in the S$3 million (HK$13.5 million) Singapore Airlines International Cup but were thoroughly eclipsed by a German running machine called Epalo.

Both Hong Kong gallopers were tactically outpointed with their get-back patterns of racing while Epalo, under former Hong Kong club jockey Andrasche Starke dominated from the front.

Epalo, starting at $37 (for $5), won this second leg of the World Racing Series in little more than a common canter, trouncing South Africa's champion miler Surveyor (Barend Vorster) by five lengths.

Bowman's Crossing (Michael Kinane) ran a gallant third, three-quarters of a length behind Surveyor, with Ain't Here (Gerald Mosse) charging home late for fourth.

Each of the Hong Kong horses had hard-luck stories. Bowman's Crossing was involved in a scrimmage on the first turn which, according to trainer David Oughton, put the gelding even further back than intended.

'We had to go back from barrier 13 anyway but that scrimmage put him even further back than we'd wanted,' Oughton said. 'Never mind the doubt about his running 2,000 metres, the way he raced there was more like a mile-and-a-half [2,400-metre] horse,' he mused.