Blizzard nearing Group one glory after Challenge Cup win

BLIZZARD has always had the potential to win a major race in Hong Kong and after Sunday’s Group 3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup win at Sha Tin, that elusive win doesn’t look far away.

The Ricky Yiu-trained runner finished third in the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Classic Cup last season and Yiu isn’t completely sure which Group one he will target with Blizzard.

“We’ll definitely be looking at Group one races but I don’t know which distance – I haven’t really decided where he’ll go next, I need to sit down and talk to the syndicate,” Yiu said.

The likely targets will include the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup in January and the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup in February.

“He showed last season that he’s pretty versatile, he ran all the way up to 2000 metres in the Derby and he’s shown his ability at 1400m, a mile, 1800m – at this moment, I can’t say for sure where I’ll put him next time,” Yiu said.

“We need to sit down and think about it.”

Blizzard was too good for its rivals on Sunday, winning at odds of $2.60 at CrownBet.com.au and Yiu believes its Class 1 Handicap win on December 11 instilled some confidence into the five-year-old.

“He’s improved, he’s better than last time; you can see that in the style of his win today – the way he did it today was good to watch,” Yiu said.

“He’s always been a lovely horse, he’s always trying to please and that win last time gave him a boost.

“He’ll go up seven or eight pounds for that win today so he’ll be rated 118 or 119. Before the season started he was rated 105 and I couldn’t believe that. He was better than that rating. I’ve always believed he’s a horse that had the ability to be above 110.”

Dashing Fellow just held on for second placing with stablemate Joyful Trinity in third. Trainer John Moore was happy with his pair.

“Dashing Fellow’s run well there,” Moore said. “He was entitled to, given that he was well-weighted and the 1400m is his preferred distance. I don’t think he’d have beaten the winner but he was taken on by Racing Supernova at a crucial stage, about 800 metres out, which we didn’t expect.

“He’s just not top level – he’s a solid Group three handicapper.

“When we get back to set-weights, we’ll see Joyful Trinity and the others come into their own,” he continued, “But they had a stiff task trying to give that weight to Blizzard today.

“Joyful Trinity was giving 12 pounds and he’s only beaten two and a quarter lengths, so that honest run in the Hong Kong Mile has cost him.

“Blizzard’s good but at level weights he’s going to come back to us.”

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