Ambitious Dragon breathes fire in HK Mile

Ambitious Dragon was lame on Saturday, but superb on Sunday (Hong Kong Jockey Club)

Two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon was the subject of a
last-minute injury scare on Saturday, but the Tony Millard charge passed his vet
check with flying colors Sunday morning, and several hours later, conquered the
Group 1 Hong Kong Mile with condescending nonchalance. Spoiling for revenge on
Glorious Days, who had upset him in the local course-and-distance prep,
Ambitious Dragon coasted past the whippersnapper to reconfirm his status as Hong
Kong’s best.

Glorious Days went off as the favorite in the Mile, not only because of his
victory in the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile, but also in light of the cloud over
Ambitious Dragon. One day before their eagerly-awaited rematch, Ambitious Dragon
was “moderately lame” in his right hind leg. Would the Dragon even be fit to
compete on Sunday, let alone turn the tables in Hong Kong’s biggest race meeting
of the year?

“I definitely know what Kiefer Sutherland felt like in ’24’, because the last
24 hours were trying and I really must thank my staff,” Millard said. “Up to 11
p.m. last night they were still walking the horse, and we brought him out this
morning, and he seemed to improve every hour. It is a great reflection on the
horse that he is.”

Ambitious Dragon had the satisfaction of turning the tables on Glorious Days (Hong Kong Jockey Club)

By covering the metric mile on Sha Tin’s good turf in 1:34, Ambitious Dragon
extended Hong Kong’s dominance in this race for the seventh straight year.

“The last thing Tony said was just worry about what you’re doing and not
everyone else,” Purton said, “so I did that and I had the horse underneath me. I
thought the pace was nice enough that I was able to wait a little bit and I just
tried to wait until I got into the straight and then let him down.

“I let him roll into his gear and let him down, and in the end I never had to
touch him with the whip. It was a pretty soft win and a good effort.”

“He’s just a super champion,” Millard said, “and he can win over any
distance. When I saw him picking them up, I thought, ‘I hope he does not flatten
out,’ but they had gone a good lick so they were stopping.”

Douglas Whyte, aboard Glorious Days, paid tribute to the winner.

“He jumped very well from the stalls and we have got a perfect trip,” Whyte
recapped. “My horse gave everything, but the winner was just too good on the
day.”

Zac Purton salutes aboard the reigning two-time Horse of the Year (Hong Kong Jockey Club)

“Great result for Hong Kong with the first three horses home trained here,”
said Weichong Marwing, who rode Packing OK.

“Maybe the horse (Gordon Lord Byron) does not quite stay the mile,” Buick
noted, “but he ran very well. Couldn’t have asked much more from him.”

Packing Whiz closed from well back for fifth, despite the fact that he bled.

“Coming back from the 2000 meters to the mile, he just lacked a bit of ping,”
jockey Brett Prebble said, alluding to his terrific fourth in the Group 2 Jockey
Club Cup last out. “Trained specifically for a good mile race, he could win
one.”

Next came Japan’s Sadamu Patek, Xtension, Pure Champion, Don Bosco,
English-based Master of Hounds, Siyouma and Grand Prix Boss.

“She ran very flat today,” was how Gerald Mosse summed up his view from
Siyouma.

Ambitious Dragon was atoning for his loss on last year’s International Races
card, when only fourth in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup. Owned by Johnson Lam Pui
Hung and Anderson Lam Hin Yue, the six-year-old has now amassed a bankroll of
nearly HK$53 million from his 23-12-5-0 line.

Ambitious Dragon gets a well-deserved kiss (Hong Kong Jockey Club)

Expectations were accordingly high going into the 2011-12 season, and
Ambitious Dragon looked ready to meet them with a stylish reappearance in the
Group 3 National Day Cup. But a tough-trip second in the Group 2 Jockey Club
Mile, and his flat fourth in the Hong Kong Cup, brought him back to earth.

Ambitious Dragon righted the ship by capturing the first two legs of Hong
Kong’s Triple Crown, the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup and Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup,
and headed to Dubai with big hopes for the Group 1 Duty Free. Unfortunately, he
got agitated amid the festivities of World Cup night and failed to do himself
justice in seventh. Back home at Sha Tin, Ambitious Dragon was a staying-on
fourth in the Group 1 Champions Mile. He stretched out to 1 1/2 miles to attempt
a Triple Crown sweep in the Group 1 Champions & Chater Cup, but had to settle
for second to Liberator. Yet Ambitious Dragon had done enough to repeat as Horse
of the Year.

When Hong Kong’s new season began this fall, Ambitious Dragon again started
off on the right foot by dominating the Group 2 Sha Tin Trophy at a mile. He
didn’t duplicate that effort in the November 18 Jockey Club Mile, however, and
was surprisingly outkicked by Glorious Days. Millard was undaunted in keeping
Ambitious Dragon to a mile, and his confidence was rewarded.