Recap by phillip woo

Straight Gold travelled sweetly in fifth and two-off the outside fence, swept to the lead 250m out and kept on gamely to score a convincing second-up win with a move to a hood and crossed nose band and a step back in trip. Chater Mikado was hard ridden to stay in touch second from the rear in the centre of the course, was under the whip at the 400m and finished off willingly to get up a clear second. Vital Flyer made his run in midfield and closest the far side, had to steady off Romantic City and Happy Reunion at the 300m and finished up nicely to edge out an unlucky Touch Go and King Mossman for third. Touch Go had to check sharply off King Mossman at the 150m and kept on well when recovering to just miss a placing, a nose ahead of King Mossman. Favourite Oriental Prosper lad easily on the stands side from gate 14, was under pressure 200m out and had little to offer over the final 100m. Bullish Champion was up on the speed in third and three-off the stands side, drew nearly level at the 200m and couldn't keep up the gallop over the final 100m off a big weight.

Racing Incident Report

Race Nine: (275) - HO CHUNG HANDICAP - Class 2 - 1000 Meters FIRST IN COMMAND was withdrawn on 24.12.11 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (substantial amount of mucus in trachea on scoping after track work) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter ETERNAL BEAUTY (K C Leung).

Before being allowed to race again, FIRST IN COMMAND will be subjected to an official veterinary examination.

DIAMOND ELEGANCE and CHATER MIKADO were slow to begin.

Despite being ridden along in the early stages, CHEETAH BOY failed to muster speed and settled back in the field.

After the 400 Metres, HAPPY REUNION hung in badly and proved difficult to ride.

Approaching the 200 Metres, TOUCH GO was steadied and then held up for a short distance behind KING MOSSMAN which shifted out.

Near the 100 Metres, KING MOSSMAN then shifted in abruptly before being corrected by its rider.

In this incident, TOUCH GO was inconvenienced.

At the 150 Metres, DIAMOND ELEGANCE, which was laying out, was steadied away from the heels of TOPPING LIGHT which shifted out abruptly to obtain clear running.

D Whyte, the rider of 5th placegetter, KING MOSSMAN, was found guilty of a charge of having failed to ride his mount out to the end of the race to the satisfaction of the Stewards [Rule 100(2)].

In the circumstances of this matter and having in mind the margin between the 4th placing and the 5th placing, the Stewards believed the appropriate penalty was for D Whyte!|s licence to ride in races be suspended for a period to expire on Thursday, 12 January 2012 on which day he may resume race riding (3 Hong Kong racedays).

The commencement of the suspension was deferred until after the Sha Tin racemeeting next Sunday, 1 January 2012.

A veterinary inspection of EL ZONDA after the race did not show any significant findings.

ORIENTAL PROSPER, STRAIGHT GOLD and CHATER MIKADO were sent for sampling.