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SACRED KINGDOM, winner of
the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in 2007, bounced back to his best form to
register a sensational win in the S$1m KrisFlyer International Sprint over
1,200m at Kranji here tonight, denying local hero ROCKET MAN a first
Singapore success in the race.
SACRED KINGDOM (Encosta De
Lago - Courtroom Sweetie by Zeditave) went amiss after winning the Hong Kong
Group 2 Sprint Cup in May 2008 only resumed racing in February this year. He
regained his form again to win the same race on May 1 and that set him up
nicely for Singapore.
Ridden by Brett Prebble,
SACRED KINGDOM came from just off the pace to defeat ROCKET MAN (Viscount -
Macrosa by Mr Ginty) by a neck after a thrilling tussle in the straight.
ROCKET MAN, partnered by
Robbie Fradd, hit the front at the 300m after pacemaker MYTHICAL LIGHT came
under pressure. But SACRED KINGDOM quickly went after ROCKET MAN and they
cleared away from the rest to fight out the finish.
With the race run at a
cracking pace, SACRED KINGDOM broke ROCKET MAN's course record of 1min.
8.6secs. with a time of 1min. 7.8secs.
"It
was an exciting race," said Prebble. "Today he (SACRED KINGDOM) was very
strong and he was actually idling down at the end. World sprinters are
pretty easy to press the button on and go. He came back to full fitness
tonight and we saw what he can do."
"It
was a determined win from my horse but I wouldn’t like to be taking him
(ROCKET MAN) on next year when he’s bigger and stronger."
Robbie Fradd, rider
of ROCKET MAN, said: "You
couldn’t be disappointed with that. Remember he’s only a three-year-old and
the winner is a champion sprinter in Hong Kong. Come next season this one
will be even better."
A long third was Godolphin
Stable's DIABOLICAL (Artax - Bonnie Byerly by Dayjur), ahead of Singapore's
WAIKATO (Pins - Skywalker Wilkes by Skywaker) who occupied the same spot
last year.
Australia's globe-trotting
multiple Group 1 winner TAKEOVER TARGET, who won the race in course record
time last year, failed to reproduce that run and finished eighth.
"I
had a lovely run from the alley, one out and one back, but tonight he didn’t
travel underneath me and was very one-paced. It will be interesting to see
how he pulls out in the morning. He wasn’t himself," said jockey Jay Ford.
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