Ambitious Dragon roared back into form and made toast of its rivals when taking out the Stewards Cup at Shatin today- a much warmer Shatin than what we faced on Chinese New Day. This was the Ambitious Dragon we all remember- lethal, deadly, almost arrogantly cool and with that incredible turn of foot. This was not the faltering horse we saw flop at its last run following a horrific previously ride by Maxime Guyon which might have flattened it. Tony Millard and his team have taken their time getting Ambitious Dragon onto the racetrack and this preparation has been much better, something which the trainer acknowledged after the race. For local punters it all coincided with “good fung shui” as the win coincided with the first week of The Year Of The Dragon. It’s now all systems go with the next step being The Stewards Cup and where it will again meet stayer California Memory which finished a very good third today over an unsuitable distance. The disappointment of the race was John Moore’s Able One despite the trainer hyping this horse in the media. Ridden by stable jockey Darren Beadman, it was never with a chance while Moore’s Xtension ridden by “second string” jockey Jeff Lloyd came in second. As for Ambitious Dragon’s win, this was like watching the Bruce Lee of the equine world.
This was a balletic and yet lethal performance by the horse. Jockey Douglas Whyte barely moved on him over the 1600 metres race. He simply waited and waited and when he said, “Go, you good thing”, Ambitious Dragon seemed to shrug its broad shoulders and say, “No problem”, dropped the others and won in a canter. It was a mind-blowing win and the world better watch out: Enter The Dragon again.
Elsewhere, baby dragon- Caspar Fownes’ promising Lord Dragon- ran an alright race at its second start in Hong Kong to come second in Race 6- but being beaten by the very average Notus didn’t exactly made us roar with enthusiasm. It will need to improve for us to get excited about this dragon and the third-placed Good Hong Kong, owned by the controversial and “fung shui”-driven owner named John Yuen who insists on running his magnificent Good Ba Ba- now a rising nine-year-old- into the ground in Macau. This man should not be allowed to own a horse by the HKJC and the SPCA. Yuen is a disgrace to horse racing.
In the penultimate event- Real Specialist- which has the word “dragon” in its Chinese name- and making a comeback after some lameness ran a very brave second for Trainer John Size and just came short of giving Douglas Whyte four winners for the day. It was narrowly beaten by a very good type in Wah May Star which was blocked for a run, then found a much-needed opening and from then on was confidently ridden out by Howard YT Cheng.
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