The 'best race of the season' took its first hit yesterday with the scratching of Australian powerhouse Scenic Blast from the Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial at Sha Tin on Sunday.
While the trial was robbed of its international flavour and an early showdown between the world's two top-rated sprinters, local trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai declared his champion Sacred Kingdom will win the trial anyway if he 'performs to even 80 per cent'.
Scenic Blast, the King's Stand Stakes winner at Royal Ascot chasing a US$1 million Global Sprint Challenge bonus in the Hong Kong Sprint next month, was first declared for Sunday's lead-up then withdrawn three hours later with a foot problem which has been giving trainer Danny Morton problems since the horse's arrival. The sprinter was reportedly lame after working last Friday and, while he wasn't lame after working on Tuesday, Morton was not totally satisfied with him.
'The horse has minor foot problems, not just here now but as a constant issue which has to be managed,' said Jockey Club international racing manager Mark Player.
'On Tuesday, Danny wasn't altogether happy with how the horse was moving when he went for him to stretch out up the straight, but after he worked this morning he was happy again and that's why he paid up for Sunday.'
However, on cooling down back at his quarantine stable, Scenic Blast did not seem right again to Morton, who called in the vets, and the sprinter was judged lame in his right fore foot. 'Fortunately, the confident prognosis is that Scenic Blast will be right again for the Hong Kong Sprint. We still have three weeks up our sleeve,' Player said.