Runner-up to the now-sidelined Ambitious Dragon in last year’s Group 1 Hong
Kong Mile, Tom Brown’s Syndicate’s Glorious Days made light of a six-month
layoff, and post 13, on Sunday to keep the prize in local hands for the eighth
consecutive year. Masterfully brought to peak condition by trainer John Size,
and patiently ridden by Douglas Whyte, the Australian-bred gelding spearheaded
an all-Hong Kong trifecta, while Europeans Moonlight Cloud and Sky Lantern both
disappointed at Sha Tin.
Glorious Days had not been seen since finishing 11th in the June 2 Yasuda
Kinen at Tokyo to Lord Kanaloa, the brilliant winner of Sunday’s Group 1 Hong
Kong Sprint earlier on the card. Size was in no hurry to force the issue when
the six-year-old needed time to come to himself, and the seven-time champion
trainer was rewarded with an overdue first victory in the Hong Kong
International Races.
“These races have escaped me in the past, but it’s sweet now it has
happened,” Size said. “He’s an easy horse to train, and I just left him alone
when he wasn’t right earlier in the year. But about six weeks ago he started to
tell us that he would be ready to compete at this International race meeting,
and we’ve been getting more and more confident since then.”
American shipper King Kreesa flashed his trademark speed through fractions of
:24 3/5 and :47 4/5 on the good-to-firm turf, but Helene Spirit pressed him
every step of the way. Favored Gold-Fun, boasting the best current form among
the local brigade, was parked in an ideal spot in third. Moonlight Cloud was
about midpack on the outside, Sky Lantern followed in her slipstream, and
Glorious Days was anchored behind her.
Helene Spirit shook off King Kreesa after six furlongs in 1:10 3/5, but
Gold-Fun was bearing down in the stretch. As the favorite charged forward and
threatened to extend his winning streak to four, it became apparent that
Moonlight Cloud and Sky Lantern would never land a blow.
Instead, Glorious Days kicked into high gear, and his turn of foot
overwhelmed Gold-Fun. The son of Hussonet won going away by three-quarters of a
length and stopped the clock in 1:33 3/5.
“He was traveling pretty comfortably,” Whyte said. “I just hoped that he
could produce what he’s capable of. I was alongside Moonlight Cloud and my horse
then quickened up quite brilliantly. I just needed to keep his momentum going.”
Gold-Fun’s rider, Olivier Doleuze, paid tribute to the winner.
“I’m very happy with my horse,” Doleuze said. “We had a good trip and we had
every chance to win it. There’s nothing to be ashamed about being beaten by
Glorious Days, who is almost as good as Ambitious Dragon on his day. We were
second but I am very proud of my horse.”
Gold-Fun’s owner Pan Sutong and trainer Richard Gibson received compensation
one race later, when Akeed Mofeed captured the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup — with
none other than Whyte in the saddle.
Deep closer Packing Whiz got up for third, a half-length ahead of Ireland’s
Gordon Lord Byron, who replicated his fourth-place performance in the 2012 Mile.
Jockey William Buick, unlucky aboard beaten favorite The Fugue in the Group 1
Hong Kong Vase, rued his luck on Gordon Lord Byron as well.
“He was a little unlucky,” Buick said. “He really finished off and, if we get
a split a touch sooner, I think he might have run second.”
Real Specialist, the winner’s stablemate, crossed the wire fifth. Moonlight
Cloud, Helene Spirit, Dan Excel, Xtension, Pure Champion, Shamalgan, King Kreesa,
Australian raider Linton and a flat Sky Lantern rounded out the order of finish.
Moonlight Cloud’s team was understandably downcast.
“I’m sorry,” rider Thierry Jarnet told owner/breeder George Strawbridge. “She
didn’t relax today. She wasn’t herself, and the ground was plenty quick enough.”
King Kreesa couldn’t keep up the gallop.
“It just didn’t go for him today,” Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith said. “The
further they went, the higher he had his head up in the air.”
Richard Hughes could tell that Sky Lantern was never traveling.
“Disappointing — she ran very flat today and I don’t know why,” her rider
said. “I was very tender on her, I didn’t want to hurt her.”
Glorious Days, who now sports a mark of 17-8-5-1, was scoring a breakthrough
at the international Group 1 level, and continuing his trend of running well
fresh. The winner of his lone start in New Zealand for Stephen McKee in March
2011, he kicked off his Hong Kong career with an impressive tally in a handicap
that November. Glorious Days remained perfect while climbing the class ladder in
his next three outings. He suffered his first loss when just headed by Lucky
Nine in the 2012 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup. After again missing narrowly in the
Chairman’s Trophy and in the Champions Mile, Glorious Days shipped to Tokyo for
the Yasuda Kinen and wound up 14th.
Resuming in last fall’s Sha Tin Trophy, Glorious Days finished second to the
mighty Ambitious Dragon. Size decided that blinkers could end his seconditis,
and the equipment change had the desired effect as he overturned the Dragon in
the Jockey Club Mile. The Dragon exacted revenge next time in the Hong Kong
Mile, but Glorious Days bounced back with a domestic Group 1 coup in the January
20 Stewards’ Cup. He ended the 2012-13 Hong Kong season with a third to the
Dragon in the March 17 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and a fourth to Dan Excel in
the May 5 Champions Mile, followed by another fruitless venture in the Yasuda
Kinen.
Glorious Days was bred by R. Pietrykowski and failed to reach his reserve at
the New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale. He is out of the unraced
Centaine mare San Century, making him a half-brother to Australian Group
1-placed stakes victress Spurcent and multiple New Zealand stakes winner
Bangalore Bullet. Another half-sibling, Azardi, is the dam of Australian Group 2
scorer All Legal. This is the family of Australian Group 1 winners Roman
Emperor, Tully Thunder and Sandy’s Pleasure, as well as American Grade 1 queen
Black Mamba.
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