Year: 2019

John Moore was happy with Aethero’s draw. There was a smile on John Moore’s face as he discovered the fate of his latest sensation Aethero at the barrier draw ceremony for Sunday’s (8 December) Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m). Gate 10 was considered perfect for the master trainer, whose three-year-old has cut a swathe through the division including with his triumph in the Group 2 Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) last month. “I wanted eight to 10, so it’s not a bad one,” Moore said. “He can be a fraction…

Fownes’ sons Ryan and Ronan have joined the stable team. Three champion trainer titles; a raft of major race winners at home and in Singapore and a surname synonymous with Hong Kong racing only scratches the surface of the story of Caspar Fownes. “Born in Calcutta, India; 1967; August 12th,” Fownes replied when I asked his place of birth – seemingly emphasising the country and ever so slightly delivered in a fashion which might mimic a British regimental roll call. His parents Lawrie and Pamela, while of British heritage, were…

Australian horse In Her Time has drawn barrier four in the Hong Kong International Sprint. Dual Group One winner In Her Time has drawn ideally in barrier four for the Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin. The only Australian-trained horse at Sunday’s International meeting, the Newcastle mare will have 13 rivals, headed by local galloper Aethero. Regarded as the most exciting sprinter in Hong Kong, Aethero is a half-brother to Classique Legend and has won five of his six starts but will need to overcome a tricky draw in barrier…

Beauty Generation gallops at Sha Tin this morning. “Let the show begin!” John Moore said after Beauty Generation worked through his final fast gallop before Sunday’s (8 December) Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m). The bay heads into the weekend with a chance to match Good Ba Ba’s record of three wins in what nowadays is a HK$25 million race. But he does so with his aura of invincibility replaced by an encroaching mist of doubt following two losses in the lead-up. Moore, though, was upbeat after this morning’s…

Fun Fact, who has a win over Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare, runs over 2000m at Rosehill. Few horses racing at this time of year have claimed the scalp of a Melbourne Cup winner but that is a form reference Rosehill contender Fun Fact can boast. Vow And Declare finished sixth behind Fun Fact in the Grand Prix Stakes during the Brisbane winter carnival, returning in the spring to snare Australia’s most famous race. While trainer Bjorn Baker has more conservative goals for Fun Fact, including a return visit…

Aethero has his final fast work at Sha Tin. Aethero worked solo down the turf track’s back straight at Sha Tin this morning (Thursday, 5 December) in a manner which left John Moore satisfied that Hong Kong’s rising sprint star could well make history this weekend. “He went without a work mate because he’s a very fit horse, ready to go into Sunday’s big one,” the trainer said. “His work has gone to plan and everything has shown he has the talent. Now he’s got to prove that he’s a…

Pia Brandt rides Called To The Bar during trackwork at Sha Tin. Pia Brandt will not necessarily be a familiar face for many Hong Kong racing fans but aficionados are far more likely to recognise the silks carried by her horse Called To The Bar. The five-year-old will carry the blue and white silks of Fair Salinia Ltd, the breeding and racing operation of Sven and Carina Hanson made most famous by Pride, the phenomenal mare trained by Alain de Royer-Dupre. She was narrowly denied a pulsating 2005 renewal of…

The owners of champion Winx are expected to confirm her first pregnancy in coming days. The owners of champion Winx are expected to confirm she is successfully in-foal to super sire I Am Invincible in the coming days. With protocols akin to a Royal announcement, connections will wait until the results of the 45-day scan before confirming her pregnancy on Monday. A report in The Australian suggested Winx had failed to become pregnant the first two occasions she was served. If the scan is confirmed, Winx will give birth next…