Bundle Award swoops home late to post first Group win
HONG KONG - The progressive four-year-old Bundle Award might have earned a start at Group 1 level, after displaying an impressive talent to win the HK$4.2 million (S$700,000) Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup Handicap (2,400m) at Sha Tin on May 4.
Triumphant at 1,400m and 1,800m at Sha Tin this year, the John Size-trained Bundle Award handled the rise to 2,400m with aplomb to defeat Noisy Boy (Jerry Chau) by a short head in 2min 29.72sec.
Winning Dragon (Alexis Badel) was third another ¾ length away.
While the winning margin was slender, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome when the Bundle Award ($9) fanned to the outside of the six-horse field at the home turn under Zac Purton.
The Shamus Award gelding accelerated from the tail of the field to power to the line in 21.67sec over the final 400m, as Noisy Boy resisted bravely and Winning Dragon also refused to yield.
Bundle Award's performance leaves master trainer Size with the potential option of starting the gelding - the winner of three races in Australia, where he raced as Prince Prawn - in the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) at Sha Tin on May 31.
"We'll see how he is. He's not rated up to that (Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup) at the moment, but let's have a look and see what's available for him," Size said of the 86-rater.
"He's been really good for us and he's performed admirably today. It was a big job for him to go to another distance and still win.
"It was hard to predict how they would run the race, but it probably was going to be a slow-run affair.
"But, a long way from home, he looked like he might be able to win the race. It was just a matter of whether he was in the frame of mind to go on with it.
"He's physically fine. I think he's just got to learn a little bit more about racing and a little bit more about how to win a race."
Size last won the Queen Mother Memorial Cup with Dr Well in 2006, while Purton added to his wins in the race on Dominant (2013) and Exultant (2018) after his left foot was dislodged from the stirrup when the gates opened.
"He came out sideways and banged the gate. It's my sore foot, so it's in a bit of pain," he said.
"They went really slow, which was always going to play into my hands because he's got the best turn of foot of any horse in the race.
"It became a sprint home. He had it won a fair way out but he just didn't know how to put them away. He did a good job."
Bundle Award, who finished seventh to Cap Ferrat in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) on March 23, is the first horse out of this season's Classic to win a Group race.
Size also combined with Purton for a double after Crossborderpegasus ($7) made it three wins from four starts in the Class 3 Gascoigne Handicap (1,200m).
Tony Cruz swept to another towering milestone with a double at Sha Tin, taking his combined career haul as a trainer and jockey in Hong Kong to 2,500 wins.
The six-time champion jockey rode 946 winners.
His successes on May 4 with Liveandletlive ($48) - who earned a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million by winning the Class 3 Chatham Handicap (2,000m) under Angus Chung - and Winning Ovation ($33), who also snared a PP Bonus of HK$1.5 million under Badel in the Class 3 Austin Handicap (1,400m), took his tally as a trainer to 1,554.
"I'm very happy with that. It's great," said the two-time Hong Kong champion trainer.
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