Japanese champion Lord Kanaloa, an emphatic winner of last year’s Group 1
Hong Kong Sprint, seeks to double up in his career finale in Sunday’s $1.9
million renewal. Due to enter stud in 2014, the son of King Kamehameha will meet
several familiar rivals, led by Hong Kong champion Lucky Nine. The local team
also boasts Charles the Great, Frederick Engels and Eagle Regiment, while the
international contingent includes Eddie Lynam’s duo of Slade Power and Sole
Power and Nunthorpe upsetter Jwala.
Lord Kanaloa boasts an exceptional career mark of 18-12-5-1, his lone third
coming in his Grade 1 debut in the 2012 Takamatsunomiya Kinen. He commenced a
five-race winning streak in last year’s Sprinters Stakes at Nakayama, and went
on to demolish the Hong Kong Sprint by 2 1/2 lengths. Lord Kanaloa extended his
skein in the Hankyu Hai in his February reappearance, added the Takamatsunomiya
Kinen, and proved his versatility to land the prestigious Yasuda Kinen over
Tokyo’s demanding mile.
Following the same itinerary as last fall, Lord Kanaloa returned from his
summer vacation in the September 8 Centaur Stakes at Hanshin, and once again
came up agonizingly short. But that prep had its desired effect, for just as in
2012, he roared back to defend his title successfully in the Sprinters Stakes.
The Takayuki Yasuda trainee hopes that the pattern holds in Hong Kong as well.
But there is a considerable difference in his post. Drawn favorably a year
ago, Lord Kanaloa and regular rider Yasunari Iwata must find a way to overcome
post 12 on Sunday. If he does, Lord Kanaloa would seal his legacy as Japan’s
greatest sprinter, and emulate past repeat winners Falvelon (2000-01) and Silent
Witness (2003-04).
Lucky Nine, on the other hand, has had a happier change of fortune. The
winner of the 2011 Hong Kong Sprint, Lucky Nine was compromised by post 12 in
his title defense and ended up fifth to Lord Kanaloa in 2012. This time, the
Caspar Fownes star has landed a plum post 5 with his pilot Brett Prebble. The
good draw could help him regain his title, thus following in the hoofsteps of
2007 and 2009 winner Sacred Kingdom.
Hong Kong’s reigning champion sprinter has had more than his fair share of
bad luck, including a troubled fifth to Lord Kanaloa in last year’s Sprinters in
their only other meeting. But Lucky Nine has excelled when things fall into
place. Earlier this year, the Irish-bred son of Dubawi captured the Chairman’s
Sprint Prize at this course and about six-furlong trip, and in May, he crushed
the KrisFlyer International Sprint in Singapore.
Freshened for an Australian venture, Lucky Nine finished like a proverbial
freight train to miss by a nose to Buffering in the October 25 Manikato. But he
failed to duplicate that performance when a well-beaten sixth behind the same
rival in the November 9 VRC Sprint Classic, which he exited sore. Lucky Nine has
been working superbly back at Sha Tin, however, and all indications are that
he’s ready to fire.
Trainer John Moore fields a three-pronged attack. While Charles the Great
captured the local prep, the November 17 Jockey Club Sprint, over Group
2-winning stablemate Sterling City, and Frederick Engels was a mere eighth, the
latter has been tabbed as the yard’s best chance.
Frederick Engels, who landed the 2011 July Stakes in his English days, has
turned in three eye-catching runner-up efforts this year — to Eagle Regiment in
the Centenary Sprint Cup at an inadequate five furlongs, to Lucky Nine in the
Chairman’s Sprint Prize, and to the speedy Go Baby Go in his reappearance in the
Sha Tin Sprint Trophy. Next time, Frederick Engels was a rallying fourth as the
133-pound highweight in the Premier Bowl Handicap. But his progress was
interrupted with a poor draw in the Jockey Club Sprint, where he was strangled
from post 12, overraced early, and understandably failed to finish as well as
usual. Post 4 could bring out the best from him.
Derek Cruz dispatches the evergreen 10-year-old Joy and Fun and the
eight-year-old Cerise Cherry. Joy and Fun was a close third in the 2009 Sprint,
a dead-heat second to Lucky Nine in a 2011 thriller, and fourth in 2012. The
Group 1 globetrotter has not raced since chasing Shea Shea in the Al Quoz Sprint
on Dubai World Cup night. Cerise Cherry was an overachieving runner-up to Lord
Kanaloa last year.
Eagle Regiment has been known as a specialist at about five furlongs down the
straight, the scene of his back-to-back wins in the Centenary Sprint Cup. But
the fragile gelding, who was third to Shea Shea and Joy and Fun in the Al Quoz,
might be finding a new dimension. A staying-on third under top weight in the
Jockey Club Sprint, the Manfred Man pupil was doing his best work at the end of
the about six-furlong trip, and could have more to offer here.
Other chances among the locals are Go Baby Go, who sports a pair of Group 3
titles at about five furlongs but has questions to answer at six; Rich Tapestry,
who nailed Go Baby Go in the Sprint Cup back in April but exits a ninth in the
Jockey Club Sprint; and Time After Time, Group 1-placed to Ambitious Dragon in
the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, and third to Rich Tapestry in the Sprint Cup,
but only 10th in the Jockey Club Sprint.
European-based sprinters have been shut out so far in the Hong Kong Sprint.
Sole Power tried once before, resulting in a ninth in 2011. The Irish veteran
has historically been a five-furlong aficionado, a profile reinforced by his
victory over Shea Shea in this summer’s King’s Stand at Royal Ascot. But he’ll
prefer the better ground at Sha Tin, compared to the Longchamp bog in which he
was sixth in the Prix de l’Abbaye last out.
His stablemate from the Lynam yard, Slade Power, has more appeal as an
upwardly-mobile type who might not have peaked yet. Adept at six furlongs, the
Dutch Art colt placed in both the July Cup and Haydock Sprint Cup before scoring
a breakthrough in the October 19 British Champions Sprint.
Jwala sprang a 40-1 shock in the Nunthorpe at York in August, sluicing
through the rain-softened ground to upend Shea Shea and Sole Power. Trained by
Robert Cowell, the Oasis Dream filly actually had some decent form in the book,
and she proved that the Nunthorpe was no fluke when a solid fourth in the Abbaye.
But Jwala has been handed a lethal blow in post 14.
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