Declaring Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse) the best horse he has trained, Manfred Man is likely to give his stable flagbearer the opportunity to chase Group One glory in the HK$12 million Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) next month after the gelding’s authoritative Gr.3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m) triumph at Sha Tin on Sunday (1 January).
Weighing potential race options, including the Gr.1 HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) on 29 January at Sha Tin, Man indicated his preference was to wait a week for the Gr.1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) on 5 February.
“With this rating (119), he has many options but we will go for the February sprint,” Man said. “He just keeps improving and how good (is he)? I can’t give you the answer at the moment because he still has the chance to improve.”
Contesting a 1400m race for only the second time in his 12-start career, Lucky Sweynesse cruised to his eighth victory after a calculating ride by Zac Purton, who sat outside Healthy Happy (Zoustar) before taking control of the race with terminal acceleration in the straight, making light of equal topweight of 61kg.
“It was pretty painless – it always looked that way pre-race,” Purton said. “He was sluggish from the gates and took about 50 metres to get into his stride but once he did, he was just in a lovely spot – the rhythm of the race suited him,” Purton said. “I just looked after him and with the weight, it was a nice effort.”
Clocking 21.98s for the final 400m, Lucky Sweynesse erased the memories of his chequered passage when sixth behind Wellington (All Too Hard) in the Gr.1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on 11 December.
“His last run, he didn’t get the chance to race,” Man said after Lucky Sweynesse downed Healthy Happy by one and a quarter lengths. The Golden Scenery (Deep Field) was a further length back in third place.
Lucky Sweynesse was sold at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale out of Woburn Farm’s 2020 draft for $90,000 to Joe Barnes’ J & I Bloodstock and is the second foal out of Listed Wanganui Cup winner Madonna Mia.
The gelding was a six length trial winner at Ellerlsie out of Shelley Hale’s Cambridge stable before transferring to Hong Kong.
Sweynesse is represented by 16 yearlings at this month’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales (5 Book 1 and 11 Book 2).
