Unique Jewellery shines in Hong Kong Derby trial
Report: Hong Kong (Sunday)
Sha Tin: HK Derby Trial (Group 2) 1m1f
UNIQUE JEWELLERY (John Size/Olivier Doleuze) catapulted himself into the reckoning for the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby when taking the designated trial at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The New Zealand-bred son of O’Reilly redeemed his reputation with a narrow 11-1 victory under Olivier Doleuze, who profited from champion jockey Douglas Whyte’s preference for fellow John Size trainee More Bountiful.
The latter disappointed by finishing in midfield in the final major prep for the Hong Kong's most important domestic raceon 22 March.
Doleuze drove out the Hong Kong International Sale 2006 graduate to a short-head margin from Kings Falcon with Legend Of Colour three-quarters of a length further behind in third.
It was a major turnaround as Doleuze had nearly won the HK Classic Mile on More Bountiful last month ,when Whyte opted to ride Unique Jewellery - who then flopped as a short-priced favourite from a wide barrier.
Size later said that the allocationof an inside gate on this occasion played its part in a much improved run.
“The tactics were different today because last time out he was wide and never really comfortable in the run,” said the trainer.
“But from the better draw today we were able to take him back and it helped that there was enough speed on to help him finish off. He should stay the 2,000 metres in the Derby on that sort of performance.”
Redragtoabull, trained by John Moore, set a solid pace under Weichong Marwing and gave the field the slip off the home turn and was still one length to the good with just 50m to race before the placegetters, including stable companion Kings Falcon, swamped him.
Moore, nevertheless, was more than satisfied with the performances and expects to go to war with three runners in the Derby in five weeks' time.
>>>Collection, winner of the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot last term for William Haggas, was just edged out of a winning Hong Kong debut on Sunday's card at Sha Tin.
Now trained by John Moore, the highly rated four-year-old turned in an encouraging run under Darren Beadman in a Class 1 race over 7f in which he was just mastered by Express Win.
"He just died on his run in the last little bit but you'd have to be satisfied with a first-up run like that over a trip that's a good bit short of his best," Moore said
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