Pierre Ng holds faith in temperament and tempo for Mugen

By Declan Schuster

Pierre Ng hopes the mix of a favourable temperament and the potential of a frantic pace can bring the best out of Mugen when he lines up in the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) at Nakayama on Sunday (29 September) in Japan.

“One good thing about Mugen is that he has a very good temperament. He’s travelled between Sha Tin and Conghua – he’s been training to that pattern.

“Once he arrived in Japan, I think he has settled in here very well. I’ve had him for a long period of time and he’s never had a bad temperament or been in an environment that makes him excited,” Ng said.

Mugen is a Group 3 winner in Hong Kong, having won the HK$4.2 million G3 Premier Cup Handicap (1400m) over California Spangle last June at Sha Tin. He also placed third in the HK$22 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) in April behind Invincible Sage.

The six-year-old – who drew gate nine – tends to settle back for a finish. Likely leader Victor The Winner will need to offset barrier 14. Puro Magic, Mama Cocha, Win Marvel and Mozu Meimei are all expected to roll forward and heat up the Sprinters Stakes tempo.

“He (Mugen) always has a strong finish. He runs fast closing sectional times, if the race is run at a fast tempo, then we expect him to run well for us in his races,” Ng said.

Ng remains indifferent about drawing barrier nine on Friday (27 September) for the race.

“I’m happy enough. It’s a big field, so he’ll have the chance from the middle draw to settle around midfield or behind midfield, I’m not too worried about the draw,” Ng said.

The winner of 114 races in Hong Kong, Ng has a long-held ambition of achieving big-race success at home and abroad, already campaigning horses to South Korea and Dubai across his burgeoning training career.

“I think he (Mugen) did really well towards the end of last season. He ran third in the Group 1 and he won at Group 3 level, and the owners (Infinitude Syndicate) behind him really wanted to send a horse back to Japan which they have previously (Blizzard, twice fifth).

“Of course, I always want to travel horses and achieve a win in an overseas race – that’s the motivation for us,” Ng said.

Mugen is one of two Hong Kong-trained runners with Danny Shum’s Victor The Winner also engaged.

“We’re just trying to give the horse the best we can, by giving him a companion and getting the best out of this travel to make sure he performs well and gets good prize money for us,” Ng said.

Ng and jockey Karis Teetan – who rides Mugen this weekend – walked the turf course at Nakayama on Friday morning.

“We had a good walk on the track. We know that it’s going to be raining soon, but the horse has experience on wet tracks during last season and even in the April’s Group 1 race. I’m not scared that he won’t handle the track (if it is downgraded),” Ng said.

Ng will chase success at Sha Tin on Saturday (28 September), too. His team saddles Robot Knight, Fighting Machine, Gangnam Star, Equatorial, Frantanck and Prestige Always.

“Your horse needs to be fit and well ahead of every race. No matter what the performance is, it’s how you improve that horse for their next run, that’s a special key.

“We just have to look after them – always eating well, working well, fit enough, happy enough and make them happy all of the time. That’s my philosophy – with a happy horse I think we can get a happy result,” Ng outlined.

The G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) is run at 2.40pm (HKT) at Nakayama. It is part of an eight-race simulcast fixture.