Sore Scenic Blast out of rich sprint trial in Hong Kong

Australian horse of the year Scenic Blast will miss Sunday’s $HK3 million (about $A430,000) Group 2 Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial (1200m) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong because of lameness and – despite Jockey Club optimism – must be in doubt for the main event on next month.

The HKJC international racing manager, Mark Player, told the South China Morning Post that the horse’s foot problem had been causing West Australian trainer Danny Morton concern since Scenic Blast arrived at Sha Tin from Japan on October 17.

The paper’s Australian racing writer Alan Aitken reported that Scenic Blast (B or br g 5, Scenic (IRE)-Daughter’s Charm, by Delgado (USA)) was lame after working last Friday and, while he wasn’t lame after working on Tuesday, Morton was not totally satisfied with him.

Player said: “The horse has minor foot problems, not just here now but as a constant issue which has to be managed. On Tuesday, Danny wasn’t altogether happy with how the horse was moving when he went for him to stretch out up the straight, but after he worked (later in the week) he was happy again and that’s why he (originally) paid up for Sunday.”

However, on cooling down back at his quarantine stable, Scenic Blast did not seem right again to Morton, who called in the vets, and the sprinter was judged lame in his right (off) fore foot.

“Fortunately, the confident prognosis is that Scenic Blast will be right again for the Hong Kong Sprint,” Player told the SCMP. “We still have three weeks up our sleeve (to the $HK12 million Group 1 Cathay Pacific International Sprint, also 1200m, on December 13).”

Reports were that Scenic Blast had some issues after his win in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot in England in June. He flopped in the Group 1 July Cup (1200m) at Newmarket in England three weeks later and in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) in Japan on October 4, although he suffered bad interference in that race.

Connections are chasing a $US 1million (about $A1.1 million) bonus for winning Group 1 races on three continents in the Global Sprint Challenge, of which the Hong Kong race is the final leg – his win in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at the start of the year set up the attempt.

Without Scenic Blast on Sunday, Hong Kong-based Australians hold the key to the Sprint Trial.

Australian-bred Sacred Kingdom (B g 6, Encosta De Lago-Courtroom Sweetie, by Zeditave), the world’s top-rated sprinter alongside Scenic Blast, will be ridden by Victorian Brett Prebble, who is on a roll.

“This is some race, so it won’t be any pushover, but the horse is flying,” Prebble told Aitken. Trainer Ricky Yiu was no less positive despite the gelding having his first run for five months.

“We missed the Sprinters Stakes in Tokyo only because of a shoeing problem, but that’s all that was and it is long past,” Yiu said. “Sacred Kingdom’s trial last week was outstanding  … he has a good draw, the hottest form jockey in town, and I think if he runs to even 80 per cent of what he can do, he will win this race.”

Prebble has had 10 winners (four, three and three) over the past three meetings and has shot clear in the Hong Kong jockeys’ premiership with 23 wins to reinforce his bid to dethrone South African Douglas Whyte, winner of the past nine premierships.

Whyte (10 wins) has had a slow start to the season that began in mid-September and is only fifth on the premiership list behind Prebble, apprentices Keith Yeung (15) and Matthew Chadwick (13), and Australian Darren Beadman (12).

Prebble rode Sacred Kingdom to win the Group 1 Krisflyer (1200m) in Singapore in May before finishing fifth in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee (1200m) at Royal Ascot in June. (Frenchman Gerald Mosse won the 2007 Cathay Pacific International Sprint on him.)

A two-meeting suspension accompanied Prebble’s treble at Happy Valley on Wednesday, but he does not serve it until the Sunday and Wednesday before the big race.

It is difficult to assess which of leading trainer John Moore’s team of four will provide the main danger to Sacred Kingdom – the Australian has last December’s International Sprint winner Inspiration (Mosse), another Group 1 winner Dim Sum (James Winks), the consistent placegetter One World (Weichong Marwing) and the emerging Happy Zero (Beadman) in the field.

Beadman is the No. 1 stable rider, but in recent weeks he has made the wrong choice and been beaten by mounts he rejected.

The Trial for the $HK16 million Group 1 International Mile is the other Sunday highlight, and the early international arrival, Eagle Mountain, trained by South African Mike De Kock, is in the field although he is likely to move up to the richer Cup (worth $HK20 million) next month.

The meeting at Ascot in Perth tomorrow will have a bearing on further invitations to Hong Kong. Connections of the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) favourite Gold Salute and the well-fancied Ortensia want to go.

Australian sprinters All Silent and Apache Cat already are booked to travel.