News

Sacred Kingdom retains his authority in Centenary Sprint Cup

16th Jan 2011

HKJC - Sunday, 16 January 2011

To the astonishment of nobody, Sacred Kingdom repeated his 2010 victory in the HKG1 Kent and Curwen Centenary Sprint Cup, first leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series, and in doing so reasserted his Hong Kong sprinting supremacy at Sha Tin today. The seven-year-old may not be quite the force he was, and jockey Brett Prebble admitted that this time “he never got on the bridle”. But at the minimum trip he still has far too much finishing speed for any of the pretenders to his championship crown, and he picked up his front-running rivals with very little fuss to complete victory by what was in the end a comfortable three quarters of a length.

“I asked him at about the 400, and he picked up and gave me a nice turn of foot,” said the old champ’s regular partner Brett Prebble, who punched the air in glee as he passed the post on the day he returned from suspension. “He may not be quite what he was as a five-year-old, but he’s in great form; he’s got a great heart, and he’s always doing his best.”

“We won the first leg and now we’re looking forward to the second,” said Ricky Yiu referring to the HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize over 1200m on 5 February. But, obviously sharing the thought that the shorter trips are now those which suit Sacred Kingdom best, the trainer hesitated to commit himself to a tilt at the final leg over 1400m. “We’ll give it some thought,” he said when asked whether the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup on 6 March was also on the agenda.

The John Moore-trained Dim Sum set a fast pace in the Kent & Curwen Centenary Sprint Cup but was headed 300m out by Sacred Kingdom’s stablemate, Ultra Fantasy, all the way winner in October of the G1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan. In the final 200m however neither horse had any answers to Sacred Kingdom’s turn of foot, which brought him home in a time of 56.52 seconds for the 1000m. Dim Sum rallied to take second place. The Gary Ng-trained Sweet Sanette stayed on well to finish third, a length and a quarter behind the winner, with the Michael Chang-trained Vital Flyer a short head behind her in fourth.

Today’s triumph, his seventh G1, puts Sacred Kingdom just one victory behind the great Silent Witness on a total of 17 wins, and the Encosta de Lago gelding, who has only recently relinquished the position he held for three years at the top of the world sprint rankings, will join in number of wins the all time Hong Kong record holder and horse against whom all local sprinters are measured if he can take the second leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series in three weeks time.

Photo c/o Hong Kong Jockey Club