ENGLISH trainer Clive Brittain is to press ahead with plans to run Alflora in the $5 million Hong Kong International Cup at Sha Tin next month despite the colt's disappointing performance in the Group One Dubai Champion Stakes at Newmarket on October 16.
Alflora, ridden by Lester Piggott, failed to beat a runner home in the Champion Stakes, a performance that left the ever-confident Brittain completely mystified.
''I just couldn't believe it,'' said Brittain, a globetrotting trainer who is anxious to add Hong Kong to his impressive list of overseas ports of call. He was the first English trainer to win a Japan Cup, and the first to win a Breeders' Cup race in the United States.
''When Alflora came back home he was as fresh as paint. It was almost as if he hadn't had a race; and quite frankly, I just can't understand what happened. Lester was sitting there, going well a furlong out, and the next thing he was last,'' Brittain pointed out.
Alflora is one of several horses entered for both the International Cup and the Bowl, although the 1,800-metre Cup is much his preferred race. The distance should prove absolutely ideal.
The colt's best performance came at Royal Ascot in June when he landed the Queen Anne Stakes, fighting back after being headed by hot favourite Inner City in the dying stages to snatch victory under a determined Mick Kinane ride.
