Hong Kong Jockey Club
Mr Stunning stamped himself as the horse to beat in next month’s Gr.1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) with a comfortable victory in the traditional local lead-up, the Gr.2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint (1200m), at Sha Tin on Sunday.
In a sign of the strength of reigning Champion Trainer John Size’s sprinting stock, Mr Stunning, under Nash Rawiller, led home a 1-2-3-5 for the stable. Amazing Kids (Brett Prebble) and D B Pin (Olivier Doleuze) fought out second, a length and a half behind the winner, while Thewizardofoz (Joao Moreira) made up ground from last to finish fifth.
“They’ve all run very pleasingly,” Size said. “Mr Stunning seemed to dominate today, but it all depends on the way the race is run in three weeks. That race could be run at a different tempo, which could give us a different result. Mr Stunning still has to produce it again in three weeks, but if he pulls up well, he should be able to repeat the run.
“This preparation, though, he has done everything perfectly. He’s obviously a nice horse to train, he’s relatively straightforward and similarly, on raceday, he’s pretty good for the jockeys too.”
Winning jockey Nash Rawiller said the five-year-old was able to adapt to the notable change in tempo in a stop-start race.
“He’s an absolute star, he’s so push-button,” Rawiller said. “Even when the pace slowed up dramatically, it probably put the whole race out of whack, but he’s nimble on his feet and he was able to capitalise on that.”
Mr Stunning is a graduate of Lyndhurst Farm’s 2014 NZB Premier Yearling Sale draft. The son of Exceed and Excel was bought by Willie Leung’s Magus Equine for $250,000.
Mark and Shelley Treweek’s Lyndhurst Farm will offer 11 two-year-olds at this week’s NZB Ready to Run Sale, including one of the three colts by Exceed and Excel in the two-day sale.
New Zealand bred and New Zealand Bloodstock graduates were responsible for the majority of winners on International trial day.
Former New Zealand-trained galloper Werther again showed his class when winning the trial for the Hong Kong Cup, while NZB graduates Beat The Clock, Happy Agility, Giant Turtle, Compassion Star and Good Fit were also winners on the undercard.