Latest news with #MassiveSovereign
South China Morning Post
10-07-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Massive Sovereign set for his return: ‘I'm looking forward to getting him there'
Trainer David Eustace and jockey Zac Purton will team up with Massive Sovereign at Sha Tin. Photos: Kenneth Chan Massive Sovereign 'hasn't missed a beat in his training' and David Eustace is looking forward to getting him back to competitive racing in Sunday's Class One Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association Trophy (1,600m) at Sha Tin. Winner of the 2024 Hong Kong Derby (2,000m), the Irish import has only been seen three times since, beaten in a pair of Group Ones to end his 2023-24 campaign when trained by Dennis Yip Chor-hong. He made his final start for the Yip stable when sixth in the Group Three Sa Sa Ladies' Purse (1,800m) in November, missing his next intended target, December's Group One Hong Kong Cup (2,000m), due to a fetlock injury that required surgery. Massive Sovereign was subsequently switched to the Eustace stable and will be ridden by Zac Purton from gate nine on his comeback. EPIC! 🤯🤯🤯 Massive Sovereign lands a thrilling 147th Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin for @zpurton and Dennis Yip! @BMW | #4YOSeries | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) March 24, 2024 Although a springboard for other targets, Eustace is looking forward to seeing what his top recruit can do on the track this weekend. 'It's good to get him to the races. We've taken our time and naturally he's going to improve for the run, but his trials have been good. He's fit and well,' said Eustace. 'He's obviously not 100 per cent fit but he's fit enough to run and I think it will really benefit him having a run before the season finishes instead of having a really extended break and going back to the track. 'I'm looking forward to him getting there. He hasn't missed a beat in his training. It's a very tough race – it's come up a really good race, which you've got to expect. I think the mile is a good kick-off point for him.' HK Racing News Get updates direct to your inbox Sign up Best Bets Racing News By registering you agree to our T&Cs & Privacy Policy Error: Please enter a valid email. The email address is already in use. Please login to subscribe. Error, please try again later. THANK YOU You are one the list. Massive Sovereign (yellow) wins a trial in desperate conditions at Sha Tin last month. Sunday's feature will be fiercely contested, with recent Group Three Premier Plate (1,800m) winner Beauty Joy heading the weights for trainer Tony Cruz. The third from that race, Bundle Award, helps form a three-strong team from the John Size stable that also includes Beauty Eternal and Young Champion, while Chancheng Glory, Happy Together and Patch Of Theta also feature prominently. Elsewhere on Sunday, Eustace has the hat-trick-seeking Mister Dapper entered in the Class Three Sight Winner Handicap (1,600m). The Tivaci galloper streaked away with a course and distance handicap two starts ago and repeated the feat in the Class Four Topaz Handicap (1,600m) last month. Travelling fourth into the straight, he showed a smart turn of foot to flash on past the leaders before holding off challenges from Fortune Boy and Pearl Of Pang's in the closing stages. Both of those horses won their next starts, which gives the form a very positive look, but he will need to up his game as he rises in class from barrier two. 'He's three weeks between runs and he seems to go really well fresh off four or five weeks, but this race was there and he's going really well,' said Eustace. 'He's in great form and he's obviously going to drop in weight, but he's going to need to step up.' The chief danger in the race is the Size-trained Mickley, who ran a screamer to finish second to Eustace's rising star Light Years Charm in the Class Two Hong Kong Reunification Cup (1,400m) this month. Mickley drops in class despite that near miss and has drawn well in stall four as he looks for his second win since being imported from the United Kingdom.
South China Morning Post
24-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Coolmore hoping for more Hong Kong interest after selling another Derby winner: ‘it's absolutely massive for us'
Breeding powerhouse Coolmore is hoping to foster further interest from Hong Kong owners after selling the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) winner for the second straight year. After Massive Sovereign won last year's Derby, having begun his career under Aidan O'Brien in Ireland, Cap Ferrat pulled off a superb upset at Sha Tin on Sunday following 13 starts for Chris Waller in Australia. 'It's absolutely massive for us. It's a big deal,' Mick Flanagan, Coolmore's head of international sales, told the Post. 'To be able to go to Sha Tin [on Sunday] having sold last year's Derby winner and to see the owners celebrating, it's just unbelievable. 'We sold 10 horses to Hong Kong last year, which is a lot, and we'd like to do the same again this year, if not more. We're open for business.' 👏 @CoolmoreAus @coolmorestud 👏 One world. One source. Last two HK Derby winners sold by Coolmore ☘️ — ANZ Bloodstock (@anz_news) March 24, 2025 While impeccably bred three-time Group One winner Russian Emperor, who is by Galileo out of Atlantic Jewel, is another Coolmore product sold to Hong Kong in recent years, there are still those who are sceptical when the breeding giant opts to offload. 'The owners here might say 'why would these guys sell these horses?', but it's a stallion operation, and if they're not going to be stallions, we need to sell them,' Flanagan said. 'Basically, if they're not going to be on the stallion brochure, we're more than happy to sell them. Coolmore predominantly is a stallion farm and the main driver of the business is stallion revenue. 'There's a big farming business behind it, a lot of land and a lot of families employed. We're still a commercial operation, so we have to sell anything that isn't going to make it as a stallion.' HISTORY AT SHA TIN! 👏👏@CWilliamsJockey wins the 148th @BMW Hong Kong Derby aboard Cap Ferrat for trainer Francis Lui over a fast-closing My Wish... #4YOSeries | #LoveRacing | #HKracing — HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) March 23, 2025 Flanagan confirmed interest in Coolmore three-year-olds who could target the 2026 Hong Kong Derby as four-year-olds would ramp up around June. 'I think the picture is clearer post Royal Ascot. We start to decipher what will make the stallion barn and what we maybe need to move onto different jurisdictions,' he said. 'Hong Kong is a great market for both the northern and southern hemisphere, but in the northern hemisphere we have Saudi [Arabia], Bahrain, Dubai and the [United] States as well, so when our horses come up for sale it's pretty hot competition. 'We're lucky as salesmen that we have a good product to sell – they're the best bred, they're the best looking and they're very sound.' Cap Ferrat cops 19-point hit A year after Massive Sovereign took a massive 25-point hit for his Derby success, Cap Ferrat has been slugged a sizeable 19 points for his triumph in the Classic Series finale. While Massive Sovereign was lifted to a rating of 107 following his Derby win, Cap Ferrat now sits on a mark of 102 – the same as Romantic Warrior after his triumph in the race and one point less than Voyage Bubble. Runner-up My Wish moved to a rating of 101 after receiving a four-point hike for his effort. Derby attracts record crowd Cap Ferrat's victory was witnessed by a record Derby Day crowd of 61,681 at Sha Tin, with an unprecedented 8,567 of those on course travelling from the mainland to witness Hong Kong's most prestigious race. Those numbers came just days after the Jockey Club formalised a partnership with China Travel Service Hong Kong (CTS), something chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges labelled 'very significant'. A continuation of the club's efforts to promote tourism in the Greater Bay Area, the memorandum of understanding it signed with CTS will 'jointly promote horse racing tourism by including Happy Valley, Sha Tin and Conghua racecourses into CTS travel itineraries'.
