Sunday’s meeting at Sha Tin may have appeared fairly run-of-the-mill, but trainer Ricky Yiu may have taken the covers off Hong Kong racing’s next star sprinter.
In Race 2, the Pine Tree Hill Handicap – a Class 3 event over the 1000m straight course – all eyes were on boom sprinter Voyage Warrior for his racetrack debut.
Having won his two most recent trials by a combined 10.8L, the son of Declaration Of War came into the race as a $1.50 favourite. Despite the anticipation surrounding his racetrack debut, the performance that ensued left global racing fans stunned.
The three-year-old jumped smartly from barrier 14 and was immediately sent forward by jockey Karis Teetan. By the time the 400m pole came around, the race was already over.
As Voyage Warrior approached the final furlong hard up against the grandstand rail, racecaller Brett Davis remarked: “Teetan’s just sitting there motionless at the moment, just trying to give him as easy a time as possible.”
With a few shakes of the reigns, Voyage Warrior exploded away, quickly putting daylight on his rivals.
Teetan would sit up 150m from home and let the gelding coast home in a winning time of 56.65 seconds. Four lengths was the official winning margin, but it may well have been more than double that had he been asked to extend.
Unsurprisingly, the numbers back up the brilliance of the performance.
8 of the 10 races on the day were conducted on the turf track at Sha Tin and the overall winning times were all fairly moderate. Every winner bar Voyage Warrior recorded a time well outside standard. Not only was Voyage Warrior the only horse to win in a time inside standard for the class, but he did so comfortably.
His winning time of 56.65secs was 0.2seconds inside standard for a 1000m Class 4 race and his final 400m sectional of 22.67secs was also inside standard (22.75secs). And that was with the handbrake on for the majority of the final furlong!
There was 0.63seconds and four-lengths separating Voyage Warrior and the horse which ran 2nd, What A Legend, which equates to roughly 0.16secs/length. If we’re saying Voyage Warrior could have won by eight-plus lengths, it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realise he’s capable of running Group-class time.
What’s scary is the fact it was just his first race start and the likely improvement he still has to come, which was highlighted by both trainer and jockey post-race.
Teetan said he wasn’t surprised with the performance but noted the horse still had plenty to learn.
"He’s a nice little horse and we expected him to run well," Teetan said.
"He’s been trialling a similar way so it wasn’t too surprising, and it wasn’t the strongest field today, but it’s good that he won and he still doesn’t know much about what is happening around him or what he should do.
"I think there is still a long way to go with him and a few things to fix but it was a good first step."
Trainer Ricky Yiu echoed Teetan’s thoughts, but admitted he was excited about Voyage Warrior’s future.
"The horse showed a great turn-of-foot and he’s done nothing wrong so far. He’s a very exciting horse to progress," he said.
"They’ll give him a double-digit rise in rating so he’ll go into Class 3 now but if I keep running him over the thousand (metres) he will win a couple more, at least. He just needs to learn to settle – that will make him a better horse.
"He’s still green, he’s still learning. He was running around a little bit towards the last furlong and the jockey got a little bit excited and dropped his stick – but he didn’t need it anyway!"
Yiu certainly knows a good sprinter when he sees one, having previously trained some of Hong Kong’s greatest, including four-time HK Champion Sprinter Sacred Kingdom.
Champion jockey Zac Purton, who rode fourth placegetter Joyful Heart yesterday, tweeted that it was the most impressive straight-course debut since Yiu’s former star set the track alight back in February, 2006.
Voyage Warrior, remember the name!
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