Scintillation wins - Silent Witness ninth

Scintillation spoiled Silent Witness's farewell party at Sha Tin on Sunday with a near wire-to-wire victory in the Group 1, $576,000 Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup.

Under a cool-as-a-cucumber ride from Eric Saint-Martin, Scintillation, a 6-year-old son of Danehill, led after one furlong of the straight five-furlong dash and had no trouble holding safe the late challenge of the Hong Kong Sprint winner, Absolute Champion, by three-quarters of a length, as Silent Witness faded to

finish ninth of 10, beaten 5 1/4 lengths. Trained by Danny Shum, Scintillation (5-2) was timed in 56.40 seconds on good to firm ground.

Silent Witness retires having won 18 of 29 starts, including nine Groupo1 victories, for earnings of $6,735,002. Ridden in all of his starts by Felix Coetzee, Silent Witness is a gelded 7-year-old Australian-bred son of El Moxie who was trained by Tony Cruz for Mr. and Mrs. Archie da Silva, for whom he won the first 17 starts of his career, surpassing the modern record of 16 consecutive wins held by Citation, Ribot, and Cigar.

* Miss Andretti landed the Group 1, $387,000 Lightning Stakes at Moonee Valley in Australia on Saturday, the first leg of the Global Sprint Challenge. Trained by Lee Freedman, Miss Andretti took the five-furlong Lightning by 1 1/2 lengths from Magnus as the 2-1 choice.