Translate
Gold-Fun all class in 2013 Group 3 National Day Cup
Gold-Fun (124lbs) delighted a National Day crowd of 34,011 with a classy victory in the HKG3 National Day Cup (Handicap) today, Tuesday, 1 October.
The impressive manner of the four-year-old’s success in the 1400m contest augurs well for the future ambitions of trainer Richard Gibson, who is planning to pitch his charge against Hong Kong’s best in the lead-up to a potential tilt at the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile in December.
“Gold-Fun has run a great first race of the year,” said Gibson of last season’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile winner. “He’s got bigger and stronger in the off-season and I thought today was his most impressive run. It was a very impressive performance – the horse’s turn-of-foot was exceptional.
“We always thought this horse would be better in his second year and now we’re going to target the big races over a mile leading into the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, if selected. He’ll go for the race on the 27th of this month (HKG2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy over 1600m), and we’ll see how he fares against the best in Hong Kong.”
Olivier Doleuze settled Gold-Fun mid-pack in the day’s feature race as Penglai Xianzi towed along the field of 14. Turning for home, the Frenchman switched his mount to the outside and a shake of the reins saw the Le Vie Dei Colori gelding close ominously on the capitulating leader. A slight cock of the head 300m out was only a brief concern as Doleuze gathered his mount and elicited an electric response that took the pair to a length and three quarters victory in a time of 1m 20.73s.
