Magic Millions purchase returns a Supreme Profit in Hong Kong
SUPREME Profit was purchased from the 2012 Magic Millions Yearling Sale by Hong Kong International Sale Executive Mark Richards, and on Sunday night it returned a profit for its owners when winning the Group 3 Centenary Vase Handicap.
The Danny Shum-trained runner scored its first stakes success at Sha Tin on Sunday and the $320,000 purchase for the son of Encosta de Lago is starting to pay dividends.
“That’s sensational!” Richard said. “I still remember buying him – he was just a real big, backward horse that was always going to need time, but I was taken by him.
“You can still see it now, he’s got a huge constitution to him, he always carries a fair amount of condition but he’s also got his heart in the right place.”
A three-quarter sister to 2000 Hong Kong Mile winner Sunline, Supreme Profit has come through some tough times just to be on the track.
“Full credit to Danny, it’s been quite some training performance,” said Richards. “Within four weeks of him being sold here in 2012, he had an operation on a twisted gut, and horses sometimes don’t come back from that.
“This horse did though, and now he seems to thrive on racing.”
Shum had to wait a year to see Supreme Profit on the track, but after a tough introduction to racing, he’s happy with how it’s progressing.
“He suffered a setback right after he was purchased from the Hong Kong International Sale and he was very nearly retired,” Shum said. “As a result of that operation, we had to wait for more than a year before he made his Hong Kong debut (January 2014), and at that time he was very fat and carrying a lot of condition.
“He showed talent but he took a long time to come right, and he won his first race in Class 5 here. But since then, he has kept on improving and now he is a very happy horse.”
Supreme Profit was ridden by Australian jockey Chad Schofield who took the initiative during the race by whipping around the field and taking up the lead.
“When the pace was so slow, it just didn’t suit me at all.” Schofield said. “I was three pairs back and it was going to be a sit and sprint which he wouldn’t have enjoyed, so I let him stride with the light weight and stride he did.
“I know he stays so well, he obviously won over 2000m before, so I knew he would have stayed all day. I kept him rolling the whole way, from the 1000m pretty much, and with the light weight they couldn’t pick him up.
“If the race had been another 200 metres I still think he wins, so it was a really strong effort.”
Moreira brings up 500 Hong Kong wins
Champion jockey Joao Moreira scored a treble of wins at Sha Tin on Sunday night which landed a milestone of 500 wins in Hong Kong.
The Brazilian started the run in 2012 when winning aboard All The Winners and he’s although he’s happy with the figure, he’s not stopping at 500.
“The milestone, it means a high five!” Moreira said. “It’s very nice to get to that mark, but I think we’re going to stretch that number out a little bit yet, don’t worry.”
Moreira’s biggest win of the night came with Western Express, which is on a path to the 2017 Hong Kong Derby. The John Size-trained runner has had a good start to its career and Moreira believes there is more to come.
“The horse is trending the right way, there’s no doubt about that,” Moreira said. “He ran well first-up, his second run he didn’t have things go his way and he ran terrible, his third run he ran extremely well and was just beaten and then his fourth run, he faced the big boys in the Classic Mile.
“His form is not that consistent, but he’s taking two steps forward, one step back, so he’s heading in the right direction, and he’s improved so much in the last three months, even since his first run.”
Moreira is cautious in thinking that it’s good enough for the classic races, but he isn’t ruling out a win in the Derby.
“He’s still got a couple of steps to go up to be level with the big boys, but I like him very much,” Moreira said.
“He’s still not there and he could be a horse for next season, because I don’t think he’s even close to his best yet. But nothing would surprise me with him because I’ve seen horses with the same sort of form turn up at the Derby and produce their best, and I think if he reaches where I think he will get to, he could win a Derby.”
HKJC not enticed by sweepstakes racing
After the news broke about Racing NSW’s The Everest last week, the Hong Kong Jockey Club was asked about whether it would run a sweepstakes race.
The answer was a resounding “no”, with Jockey Club chief executive Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges stating that Hong Kong Racing will not be considering anything similar.
“It will be interesting to see how many owners are willing to pay A$600,000 to get a place in this race, which is a modified copy of the Pegasus, which had on top of the prize money other revenue-sharing elements between the track and the owners/slot holders,” Engelbrecht-Bresges said.
“I firmly believe that these ‘limited number of owners financing majority of prize money races’ will be difficult to sustain.
“Owners who finish fourth or worse will review the attractiveness and return on investment, once they’ve paid expenses, including trainers, jockeys and stable staff share of the prize money, unless the organisers are able to create significant additional revenue streams to lessen the entry fee burden and pay a significant dividend to slot holders.
“We have no intention to copy this or similar models and will stay with our practice of a 1 per cent of prize money declaration fee for our top international races, which we think is a fairer offering for owners.”
Engelbrecht-Bresges made the point that The Everest will not mean anything in the breeding industry as the race has no history.
“At this stage, there seems to be only limited information available and I look forward to see the response of the Australian Pattern Committee and Asian Pattern Committee , which I assume will be surprised about this new race,” he said.
“It would be from my understanding that ground rules of the Asian Pattern and the International Pattern Committee of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities make the Everest ineligible for a Group status, which is different to the Pegasus, which went to the approval process of the US Pattern and the International Pattern Committee.
“They endorsed the Pegasus Group One status, which converted an existing Group One and made the running for top Group One horses much more attractive.”
Punters can bet on The Everest at CrownBet.com.au where Astern is the current favourite.