THREE major trials for the international meeting at Sha Tin next month were staged at the track last Saturday and featured some of the best of the local talent. All three Group 2 races were annexed by Irish-breds and included a surprise defeat for the great Able Friend in the Jockey Club Mile.

The seven-year-old Oratorio gelding Military Attack brought his career tally of victories to 13 with success in the Longines Jockey Club Cup over 10 furlongs. He is now on course for the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup on December 13th. The winner was turning the tables on Blazing Speed who beat him 12 months earlier and it was good to see the former Horse of the Year back in the winner’s enclosure.

Now the winner of in excess of £4.5 million, the €40,000 Goffs yearling will hope to go one better than last year in the Hong Kong Cup. Then he was shaded out of the winner’s enclosure by Designs On Rome. Bred by the late Percy Banahan, Military Attack is trained by Casper Fownes and was ridden to his latest victory by Zac Purton.

“The five pounds was huge today but I really feel he’ll strip a lot fitter and be cherry ripe on the big day, so fingers crossed he pulls up all right,” said Fownes, referring to the Group 1 penalty Blazing Speed was required to concede to the winner. Military Attack has had to contend with niggling issues over the past couple of seasons and Fownes is hoping that the gelding will have a trouble-free preparation for next month.

“It’s been a battle, day in and day out. The vets have done a great job, and my team as well; they’ve worked really hard. Everyone has put in the hours to just get that result for the owners and for the fans in Hong Kong. He’s getting on in age but I’m sure he’ll still be a force on the big day.”

There was a major shock in the Group 2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile when the hot favourite Able Friend was only third behind Beauty Flame and Contentment. The five-year-old winner is trained by Tony Cruz and was giving the trainer some consolation for providing the runner-up and third placed runners in the Cup. Beauty Flame was formerly trained by Joanna Morgan and provided her with a memorable Royal Ascot success in the Britannia Stakes. Bred by Tommy Murphy he raced here as Roca Tumu and the son of Footstepsinthesand has been Group 1 placed twice. His earnings soared past £1 million with this victory, his first in a black type race. Beauty Flame took the spoils under an astute ride from Gerald Mosse.

Delighted

The winning trainer Tony Cruz was delighted: “We predicted how this race would be run. I believed one of John (Moore)’s horses would set the pace for Able Friend, which would suit us perfectly and it came out exactly as we anticipated.”

John Moore said of Able Friend’s run: “He’s well enough. People might put it down to a flat run but I’d put it down to circumstances – the pattern of the race and so forth. He’ll be absolutely right for the Mile in December. Moore’s Designs On Rome, warming up for an attempt at a second consecutive win in the Hong Kong Cup, finished sixth, three and a quarter lengths behind the winner.

The six-furlong Group 2 BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint was dominated by Irish-bred runners, with Gold-Fun landing a comfortable victory from Peniaphobia. Christophe Soumillon teamed up with Richard Gibson to gain success on the Le Vie Dei Colori six-year-old who was bred by Michael Downey and Roalso Ltd. Gold-Fun was winning his 11th race.

A former champion at a mile, Gold-Fun has coped well with reverting to shorter distances and this former Ger Lyons-trained gelding has amassed earnings of more than £3 million in his career. He won a maiden at Naas as a three-year-old for Lyons, then named Strada Colorato, having been purchased for just 10,000gns as a yearling. He is now the leading Hong Kong contender for next month’s sprint.

“He won by a good margin and Richard said he was unfit today, so I reckon he will be better next time,” said the winning jockey. “You can see he was stooping a bit, looking around and hanging right, so I had to try to get him to concentrate at the end.”

Gibson said: “It’s a team effort. Huge credit to the vets here; this horse had surgery last season and it’s a huge credit to get the horse back on track. We were very happy with his first run this year and we knew he would improve on it. It was a masterful ride from Christophe. We left as much on Gold-Fun as we could; that weight on him was intentional - we tried to keep as much on him as possible and the big objective is in three weeks’ time.”