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New Paper
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Voyage Bubble sweeps home to take Triple Crown
HONG KONG - Voyage Bubble rewrote Hong Kong's racing history with a stunning triumph in the HK$13 million (S$2.13 million) Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2,400m) at Sha Tin on May 25, making light of stamina concerns with a record-equalling performance to draw the highest praise from James McDonald and Ricky Yiu. Given a perfect ride by McDonald, Voyage Bubble ($9) streaked to a 3½-length win over Rubylot (Hugh Bowman) and Cap Ferrat (Craig Williams) in 2min 26.67sec. The Yiu-trained six-year-old became only the second horse in Hong Kong's racing history, after River Verdon in 1993/94, to complete the Triple Crown by winning the Group 1 Stewards' Cup (1,600m), the Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2,000m) and the Champions & Chater Cup in the same season. Demolishing nine rivals, Voyage Bubble claimed a fifth Group 1 win as the 2023 BMW Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) winner secured a HK$10 million Triple Crown bonus and the winner's purse of HK$7.28 million, to take his career earnings to HK$107.4 million for the Sunshine And Moonlight Syndicate. McDonald, the reigning Longines World's Best Jockey, revealed he thought the race - Hong Kong's 12th and final Group 1 of the season - was in his keeping at the 600m after Zac Purton's mid-race move on Ensued to join Moments in Time (Harry Bentley) and Dubai Honour (Tom Marquand) at the head of the field. With Ensued's acceleration stringing out the 10-horse field, the unflustered McDonald bided his time and gradually upped the tempo to hit the front at the 270m, before sweeping into history. "I couldn't have dreamed of it panning out as well as that - that's once in a blue moon," he said. "The stars aligned and, with that sort of run, he was going to be hard to beat even without such a good run... it all worked out. "From the 600m, he tacked up beautifully, the pace increased, everything was smooth, nothing was cluttered up. "I had a really smooth run the whole way. He's a brilliant horse. He just keeps raising the bar and keeps on surprising every time I ride him." McDonald has been aboard Voyage Bubble in all five of the Deep Field gelding's Group 1 wins and is still perplexed that the pair were beaten by outsider Red Lion in the Group 1 Champions Mile (1,600m) at Sha Tin on April 27. "I still can't believe he got beat last time, but he was just a different horse today. He was in the zone. He was 'prepped' up just beautifully by Yiu's stable," said the Kiwi rider. "So lucky to be riding him. He does everything you ask of him and he's so willing. He was on song today and he's just such a star. "He switches off and allows himself to get the distance so well and I just want to pay credit to the Yiu stable - they've done a remarkable job with this horse. "It's a great training effort - a mile to 2,400m. They've got a champion racehorse on their hands and he (Voyage Bubble) deserves all the accolades he gets. I'm very proud of him." Yiu, who has trained a string of champion sprinters including Sacred Kingdom, Fairy King Prawn and Amber Sky, was jubilant after saddling his first winner at 2,400m. "My dreams came true. Since I won the first two legs of the Triple Crown, I started dreaming. Now, my dreams have come true," said Yiu. "The closer I looked at the race today, the more I thought he would have a winning chance - his preparation was so good. "He's pure athletic. If you look at him, you can tell he's a high-class racehorse. He's performed up from a sprint to the maximum distance in Hong Kong. He's a genius." Voyage Boss ($69), who is also raced by members of the Sunshine And Moonlight Syndicate, triumphed on the undercard for Frankie Lor and Derek Leung, landing the Class 4 Makarpura Star Handicap (1,200m). Francis Lui's Packing Hermod ($7) slotted his sixth win in the Class 2 River Verdon Handicap (1,400m) under Purton. "He's more mature now and had a good draw today - the small field helped too," said Lui, who will set the four-year-old for the Group 3 Premier Cup Handicap (1,400m) at Sha Tin on June 22. Lui sealed a double after Luke Ferraris piloted Do Your Part ($21) to victory in the Class 4 Russian Emperor Handicap (1,400m). Mister Dapper ($13) clinched the Class 4 Helene Super Star Handicap (1,600m) for David Eustace and Brenton Avdulla, who later partnered John Size's 1,600th Hong Kong winner Stellar Express ($56) to score in the Class 3 Indigenous Handicap (1,000m). Purton also won on Shamus Storm ($11) in the Class 4 Exultant Handicap (1,400m) for trainer David Hayes. He then capped his day with a treble aboard Top Dragon ($31) in the Class 3 Oriental Express Handicap (1,400m) for Chris So. HKJC
New Paper
04-05-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
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. HKJC
