The recuperative powers of Sha Tin had everything to do with eight-year-old Egyptian Ra's National Day Cup win yesterday as star apprentice Matthew Chadwick claimed his first Group win.
Part of a double for Chadwick and trainer Tony Cruz, the eight-year-old Egyptian Ra justified public support as favourite to scrape home narrowly from last year's winner, Fellowship (apprentice Derek Leung Ka-chun), and Cruz admitted there had been plenty of luck involved.
'The second horse might be been a bit unlucky, he seemed to boxed in for a while, but the luckiest thing was the dry track,' said Cruz. At his most recent run last season, Egyptian Ra pulled up lame after being narrowly beaten in the Group One Champions Mile by Sight Winner, with Cruz believing the soft track that day was a contributing factor.
Despite three days of rain, Sha Tin was in outstanding condition yesterday, with times frequently below standard, and Cruz was a happy man, even when he was beaten in the opener with Forest Star.
'It's very hard to make this track soft, it dries so well,' Cruz said. 'I thought we were in big trouble with Egyptian Ra if the track was wet, but then the sun came out this morning and I knew after the first race that they were going to run times. That's what Egyptian Ra wants.'
Along it seems with the rail, with the gelding showing off his long-standing party trick of laying in towards the rail after straightening.
'He's only won by a small margin but when you look at how he wanted to lay in on the leader, Regency Dragon - who wasn't going away - I think Matthew has done a good job to stay off him and stay out of trouble,' Cruz said.
