Old-timer Bamboo Dance aiming for seventh heaven at Sha Tin
David Hall-trained eight-year-old seems to be defying his age, showing some spark with a purple patch of six straight wins
When does an eight-year-old winning in Class Three give him bragging rights over the likes of Able Friend, Good Ba Ba, Fairy King Prawn, Ambitious Dragon and Mr Vitality?
When it’s David Hall-trained Bamboo Dance looking for seven straight at Sha Tin tomorrow.
It’s probably very safe ground to say six straight is a record for his age, but seven would take Bamboo Dance into a zone few horses of any vintage ever visit.
It’s a story that would only happen here, the horse leaving me, coming back and then this
The only names to come readily to mind with seven straight wins in Hong Kong are Silent Witness (on his way to 17), Co-Tack (whose run stopped at 10) and Entrapment (who won his first eight.)
But those were sharp young horses starting top-class careers, not a seven-year-old with one win from 30 starts, a rating of 18 and headed inexorably towards compulsory retirement as Bamboo Dance was when he went to Hall for the second time last February.
“It’s a story that would only happen here, the horse leaving me, coming back and then this,” Hall said yesterday.
“It has been a very enjoyable ride for everyone connected with him. Even Joao Moreira, who rides winner after winner, has got a big kick out of it. The horse has been great for the stable, too.