GROUP 1 HONG KONG

SPRING (6F)

THE Richard Fahey-trained Growl finished well down the field as Aerovelocity led home a domestic clean sweep in the Hong Kong Sprint.

Now an eight-year-old, Aerovelocity won this race two years ago and his latest success was one of two Group 1 winners on the day for Australian jockey Zac Purton.

The Paul O’Sullivan-trained gelding motored down the outside to defeat Lucky Bubbles by a short-head. Last year’s winner Peniaphobia (ridden by Silvestre de Sousa) held on for third after leading, while Amazing Kids (Joao Moreira) charged for fourth to complete a Hong Kong quartet for the second year in a row.

Bred in New Zealand, Aerovelocity is the oldest horse to win the Sprint since its inception in 1999. The win was greeted by loud cheers from the parochial crowd trackside, as owner Daniel Yeung led a large group waving pink flags.

Purton said: “Out of all his wins, I think this is the most satisfying one because we’ve had some troubles with him. He has had some problems, he’s older now and Paul had to pull everything out of his trick bag to get him in the condition he is today.

“I’m just the lucky one to be piloting him.

“It’s a good feeling because we were of the opinion that we were starting to lose him. And we know he’s a warrior and he gives everything he’s got and although he didn’t perform at his best today, his heart is so big that he was able to give us that effort.”

“Paul fine-tuned him and dropped the extra little pounds that he was carrying and got him as best as he could for today so he’s done a great job.”

O’Sullivan said of his star: “He’s had plenty of issues. He had a heart irregularity, he had a significant amount of blood in his trachea on that day, he travelled to Japan last season and got colic. But I said to Daniel (Yeung, owner) before the race today, I can’t get him any better than this. I think he’s peaked on the day, it’s just a matter of whether he’s still got it in him.”

The trainer said that a return to Japan could be on the cards in March, while he wouldn’t rule out Aerovelocity attempting to make history as the first horse to win three Hong Kong Sprints next December.

French runner Signs Of Blessing made a tremendous bid from last, running the fastest last 800m of the race in 44.25secs. He crossed the line first of the overseas visitors in fifth for trainer Francois Rohaut and jockey Stephane Pasquier.