English trip off the cards for surgery-bound champion miler
Any thoughts of Group One-winning Gold-Fun packing off to the royal meeting at Ascot have ended abruptly and the six-year-old will have surgery instead before a holiday. Named last season's champion miler, Gold-Fun was finding Able Friend too hot to handle and Gibson switched him successfully back to short trips to claim the Chairman's Sprint Prize and a second in the The Sprint Cup, and he had been an entry for both the Royal Ascot dashes next month. "Sadly, he won't be going," said trainer Richard Gibson yesterday. "Tomorrow, Gold-Fun will have keyhole surgery to remove chips in his right fore ankle. He'll then have a good break before a preparation aimed at the Hong Kong Sprint." Alan Aitken
Magic Man scores six seconds in first six races - then bags a winner
The Magic Man, Joao Moreira is swallowing up even the records that he doesn't want to own. "I have never heard of that, is it a record?" the Brazilian asked after finishing second in each of the first six races at Sha Tin. Nobody could help with that stat, but Moreira was in danger of becoming the first rider to win a Jockey Challenge without winning a single race before Dr Good Habit scored in the last. "It was a slightly different ratings band race, so he didn't have the big weight to carry today," said trainer John Size. "The rain obviously didn't hurt him and a low draw helped too, as he didn't have to do much in the run. I didn't think I'd win two with Dr Good Habit this season, but he's done it and I'm not complaining." Alan Aitken
Alex Lai's glory dampened by HK$10,000 whip fine
Jockey Alex Lai Hoi-wing kicked off the day heaped with praise for getting Lucky Bole home for his first win, but stewards later relieved him of part of that percentage for misuse of the whip. Lai was found to have struck Ambitious Speedy in the neck-shoulder region well after passing the post in race five, but Lucky Bole's Class Five victory will take care of the HK$10,000 fine. "At this end of the season, Class Five is even weaker than it normally is," said Lucky Bole trainer Francis Lui Kin-wai, who took 16 starts to win with the son of Econsul. "By this stage of the year, there are a lot of Class Five winners who have gone up in the handicap while this horse has kept dropping, so that makes it easier." Alan Aitken
