Steve Talks To Brett Prebble
The Australian jockey has won this major sprint race four times in the past ten years – scoring on Absolute Champion (Marauding) (2007), Sacred Kingdom (Encosta De Lago) (2010) and Lucky Nine (Dubawi) (2013 and 2014). He’s also been runner-up four times, in that period, on Lucky Bubbles (Sebring) (to Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago) last year), Lucky Nine (2012), Sacred Kingdom (2011) and Absolute Champion (2008).
Throw in his two Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) wins on Bullish Luck (Royal Academy) (2006), on whom he also won the Yasuda Kinen (Gr 1, 1600m) a month later, and Sight Winner (Faltaat) (2009) then you can appreciate that he has an understandable fondness for these races (which have not always been on the same day). A fondness he also has for the remarkable Lucky Nine who, aside from his great Chairman’s record, was also placed in two Champions Miles.
But that’s counted for nought in the lead-up to this year’s coveted HK$14,000,000 Hong Kong Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m). We could dance around it all we like but the truth is Prebble has been sacked from Lucky Bubbles. “That’s racing in Hong Kong, not the first and won’t be the last time and I’m Ok with it. It’s the owner’s right,” he said.
It’s a tough, old school in Hong Kong.
Karis Teetan was aboard the nominal sprint favourite Mr Stunning (Exceed And Excel) at his first three starts. He won the first two and was then beaten a short head third time out. Guess what? He was then replaced by Joao Moreira. Moreira replaces lots of jockeys! Lucky Bubbles has had 29 races and trials in Hong Kong and Prebble’s been aboard in all but one.
Hugh Bowman now rides Lucky Bubbles and Prebble’s focus is on Amazing Kids (Faltaat) whom he’s ridden twice for as many wins. “Definitely has a winning chance,’ Prebble said, “I’ve always rated him alongside Lucky Bubbles. Always felt he’s a top class sprinter and there’s no Sacred Kingdom in this race so the horse who gets the best run will be hard to beat.”
Prebble says that Sacred Kingdom is not only the best horse he’s ridden in Hong Kong but the best he’s seen. “I think he was better than Silent Witness. The overall times and the sectionals support that, I think you’ll find.
“He was a great horse, Sacred Kingdom and he came to me late. He was a six-year-old when I won the Chairman’s (Sprint) on him and had already won ten races so he may not even have been at his absolute best when I got on board,’ he said.
Probable recalls that Absolute Champion was ’absolutely awesome’ when at his best. “In the Chairman’s, he just got the job done but two starts earlier in the Hong Sprint, he set the track record – which Sacred Kingdom later broke – and beat Silent Witness by four and a quarter lengths. Silent Witness ran 1.8.5 that day which was about his mark. Absolute Champion and Scared Kingdom were able to break 1.8,” he said.
Absolute Champion, like Lucky Nine, took some training. “He had his issues and David (Hall) did a fantastic job to get him to perform right at his best on some of the big days,” he said.
Lucky Nine had a superb career as a sprinter and yet was fundamentally a miler according to Prebble. “He wasn’t essentially a sprinter. He really needed a mile but he had so many issues, Caspar (Fownes) really couldn’t train him for longer races in the second part of his career. He won sprints because he had a great turn of foot but maybe even more so because he was tough. He was a real bulldog,” Prebble said.
Probable believes Lucky Nine has been underrated among the greats of Hong Kong racing many of whom played prominent roles in Sunday’s races including Bullish Luck, Good Ba Ba (Lear Fan), Scared Kingdom and Silent Witness (El Moxie) all of whom are now housed at Living Legends in Melbourne.
Another, namely Aerovelocity (Pins), will also make his way to Australia after Sunday’s race. The eight-year-old son of Pins (Snippets) will have to pass a fitness test this morning to determine whether he’ll take his place. Retirement beckons win or lose for the only Hong Kong-trained horse to have won Group One races in three countries.
Owner Daniel Yeung Ngai, this week, said: “This horse has given me and my family the best time of our lives but the time has come to retire him. He’s been so good to us. He will go to Australia and we will plan to visit him regularly.”
Rapper Dragon, the Australian bred son of Street Boss (Street Cry), might well be another Hong Kong horse to achieve ‘legendary’ status. He can take a step further in Sunday’s Hong Kong Mile where he chases a ninth Hong Kong win from 13 starts and he and Beauty Only (Holy Roman Emperor) look to stand clear with little between their five rivals.
The Sprint similarly looks to have a limited number of legitimate winning chances – headed by Mr Stunning and Lucky Bubbles but the value might sit with Peniaphobia (Dandy Man), who looks the clear leader, and the Thewizardofoz (Redoute’s Choice).