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30.
Former Australian
Sprinter Wins Hong Kong Title
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22/6/2003 |
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Grand Delight, an Australian-bred son of Hurricane Sky, has swept aside the
imposing presence of three international winners to complete an extraordinary
season as winner of Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year title.
Grand Delight, who won at Group One level for owner-breeder David
Moodie and trainer Mathew Ellerton in Melbourne under his previous name of
Desert Eagle, followed in the footsteps of Mr Vitality 10 years ago in winning
the Hong Kong sprinters’ triple crown and then graduating to become Horse of
the Year.
Grand Delight (Hurricane Sky – Egyptian Ibis) is raced by Mr and Mrs Peter Law
Kin-san and is trained by John Size. He was ridden throughout his 2003 campaign
by Shane Dye.
His trilogy of Group One wins was the platform for Size to become the leading
trainer of Group One winners for the season, with five of Hong Kong’s 14 Group
Ones falling to the former Randwick trainer.
Size has now trained successive winners of Hong Kong’s Horse of the Year
title, his superb miler Electronic Unicorn being the 2002 recipient in the
traiuner’s first year in the former British colony.
Electronic Unicorn was a front-runner again for the Horse of the Year title but
the Hong Kong racing public made him a runaway winner of the Most Popular Horse
award with 18,000 votes --- almost double that of HK International Cup hero
Precision --- with Grand Delight their fourth most popular choice.
“I was pretty confident Electronic Unicorn would be the most popular horse
because the public really love him and he never lets them down,” Size said
later. “But for Horse Of The Year, it was too close to call.
“Precision won two Group Ones and won two categories (champion stayer,
champion middle distance galloper), and Grand Delight had a very strong year,
winning six races including the sprint triple crown.
“But we’re very grateful to have won it with Grand Delight and it’s a
great honour for everyone associated with the horse.”
None of Hong Kong’s three international day heroes from last December managed
to take the coveted award.
All Thrills Too, Olympic Express and Precision took three of the four
international races on December 15 and it is hard to believe none of the three
would not become Horse of the Year.
The other Australian-bred galloper to feature prominently last night was
brilliant unbeaten sprinter Silent Witness (El Moxie – Jade Tiara).
Silent Witness, trained by Tony Cruz, came to Hong Kong unraced but rocketed
straight through to the top grade, with his unbroken sequence of five wins
culminating in an effortless victory in the Group 2 Sha Tin Sprint Trophy
(1000m) two weeks ago.
Silent Witness has now been put aside with a view to joining Grand Delight and
defending champion All Thrills To as the key players in the home defence of the
Hong Kong Sprint title next December.
HONG KONG AWARDS – 2003
Horse of The Year: Grand Delight
Champion Sprinter: Grand Delight
Champion Miler: Electronic Unicorn
Champion Middle-distance: Precision
Champion Stayer: Precision
Champion Griffin: Silent Witness
Most improved horse: Silent Witness
Lifetime achievement awards: Fairy King Prawn, Indigenous.
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