Akeed Mofeed on track with 2014 Group 3 Centenary Vase win

Top-weight could not anchor the highflying Akeed Mofeed in the HKG3 Centenary Vase (Handicap) at Sha Tin racecourse today, Sunday, 2 February, as Hong Kong’s current pre-eminent performer triumphed in his warm-up for the HKG1 Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) in three weeks time.

Making his first appearance since winning the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) on 8 December, the Dubawi entire made light of 133lbs in the 1800m contest as he saw off his nine lesser-weighted rivals in a classy display of his ability.

After settling seventh under Douglas Whyte, last year’s HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby winner made strong headway into the home stretch. A shake of the reins 350m out brought a sharp turn-of-foot that soon took the five-year-old to a race-winning lead, and, although the John Moore-trained Ashkiyr (113lbs) launched a late assault in the closing stages, Akeed Mofeed’s class was sufficient to repel Mirco Demuro’s mount and score by a neck.

“We knew we were the best horse in the race, it was just a question of if he’d had enough work. He’s a wonderful athlete, so of course he responded brilliantly and he was very impressive,” said Gibson after watching his stable star clock a fast 1m 46.82s.

In a strong renewal of the Centenary Vase, the Moore-trained Same World (120lbs) was third, a further three quarters of a length behind the runner-up, while fourth place went to that gelding’s stablemate Dan Excel (131lbs), second in the HKG1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) last start.

 

Source: http://campaign.hkjc.com/en/2014-cny/2014-cny-news-details.aspx?in_file=cny_news_2014020201805.html