Trainer Paul O’Sullivan admitted that he had not expected the penny to drop with Goldie Flanker so quickly, but now that the four-year-old has put three consecutive wins together, he is starting to feel that his horse can head even higher.
The Paul O’Sullivan-trained Goldie Flanker (No. 9) completes his third successive win in the first section of the Class 4 Hap Mun Bay Handicap, photo HKJC
The Sam Clipperton-ridden Goldie Flanker (121lb) produced a meeting-fastest final 400m sectional of 22.10s, coming from second-last to win by a length and a quarter. His turn of foot even drew comparisons with one of Hong Kong’s star gallopers.
“Maybe he’s the Pakistan Star of dirt Class 4 racing,” O’Sullivan said with a laugh. “Don’t get too carried away, we’ll see where he gets later on. He has got very strong sectionals though, he was probably standing them three lengths at the 200m and he picked them up nicely. He is a promising young horse.”
Goldie Flanker had showed little in his first eight starts, but O’Sullivan puts that down to inexperience and also the Rip Van Winkle gelding’s penchant for overracing over 1400m.
“When he arrived in Hong Kong, he had very little education – he hadn’t trialled or anything like that,” he said. “This is a very difficult place if you lack experience. He just had to go through the motions. I certainly didn’t expect he could win like this once, let alone three times.
“I was running him over 1400m and he was pulling his head off, so I thought I needed to bring him back to 1200m. There’s always speed on the dirt which I thought would suit, and he had trialled well on it once, so I sent him there and away he went. Next season, I could see him getting up to 1650m, but I think he can progress even further after the off-season.”
A race earlier, Clipperton won the Class 4 Kiu Tsui Handicap (1650m) aboard John Moore-trained Spicy Kaka (120lb).
“Tonight just shows that on a good dirt surface, from a good gate, this horse has some ability,” Moore said. “He’s been a serious disappointment though, we’ve tried a few different things but he hasn’t been able to handle it, he’s been weak. I put the cheekpieces on him tonight and that made a difference. When Tommy (Berry) rode him the other day, he said to just ride the horse quietly, but I didn’t want Sam to give up that advantage of the inside gate.”
The double took Clipperton to 38 wins for the season and catapulted him into equal fourth in the jockeys’ championship, alongside Douglas Whyte.
Trainers Tony Cruz and John Size were not on track for Wednesday night’s meeting, with both in Japan preparing for Sunday’s G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in Tokyo, where they saddle up Beauty Only and Contentment respectively.
Still, they both found the winners’ list on Wednesday night; Cruz won the Class 2 Cafeteria Handicap (1650m) on King Genki (122lb), ridden by Whyte, while Size took the closing Class 3 Clear Water Bay Handicap (1650m) with Joao Moreira-partnered Red Marvel (123lb).
Racing returns to Sha Tin on Sunday (4 June) for a 10-race card, headlined by the G3 Lion Rock Trophy Handicap (1600m).
