Seasons Bloom looms large in Champions Mile

HONG KONG – There are plenty of horses based at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong larger than Seasons Bloom, who will start favored in Sunday’s Group 1 Champions Mile here. In recent starts, Seasons Bloom’s weight has ranged from 1,029 to 1,044, modest by most equine standards, and on Thursday trainer Danny Shum said Seasons Bloom weighed 1,037.

“He’s not a big horse,” he said. “He has a big heart.”

The 5-year-old Seasons Bloom is having a career-best season in Hong Kong, having won half of his six races. Seasons Bloom has won two group stakes since last November, but neither was as prestigious as the $2.29 million Champions Mile. The Champions Mile is one of three Group 1 races on Sunday’s card at Sha Tin. The others are the $3.06 million Queen Elizabeth II Cup and the $2.04 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize.

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Seasons Bloom, an Australian-bred, was third by a length in the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on Feb. 25 in his last start. The two-month gap between starts is good for Seasons Bloom, Shum said.

“A mile is his best distance,” he said. “If we give him a break and freshen him, that’s good for him.”

Jockey Joao Moreira has ridden Seasons Bloom in his last seven starts, including four wins, and has the mount in the Champions Mile. Moreira has been aboard Seasons Bloom in recent workouts, according to Shum.

“Joao said this morning that he couldn’t be better,” Shum said Thursday.

Moreira, who leads the Hong Kong jockey standings, will have Seasons Bloom at the back of the field of eight in the Champions Mile.

“I think it will be a good pace and I’m confident he can run a big race,” Shum said.

The 5-year-old gelding Beauty Generation, who won the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile against an international field in December, will be part of the pace from the inside post. John Moore, Hong Kong’s all-time leading trainer with 1,594 wins, believes Beauty Generation is capable of beating Seasons Bloom.

“He’s got speed,” Moore said. “I think I can beat him if he runs his ‘A’ game.”

Beauty Generation won the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup at seven furlongs Feb. 25 and was fifth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths, in the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy on April 8 to Beauty Only, who is part of the Champions Mile field.

Singapore Sling is the lone 4-year-old in the Champions Mile, his first Group 1 race against older horses. Singapore Sling closed from seventh to finish second in the Hong Kong Derby for 4-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles on March 18.

“It will be interesting to see how he lines up against the older horses,” jockey Chad Schofield said. “I think it’s a good trip for him.

“I think a fast mile will suit him. He’s consistent and in it with a live chance.”

Mr Stunning in top form

Mr Stunning is two noses away from a five-race winning streak. The 5-year-old gelding has been one of the most consistent runners in Hong Kong in the last six months, and he will be favored to win his second Group 1 race of the season in Sunday’s $2.04 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize at six furlongs.

“He’s an uncomplicated horse,” trainer John Size said Thursday. “He’s easy to train. He’ll show speed and settle in a race and adapt to the running of a race.”

That style worked when Mr Stunning won the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint against an international field in December. Earlier this year, Mr Stunning was beaten a nose in two six-furlong races, the Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup on Jan. 28 and the Group 2 Sprint Cup on April 8.

Mr Stunning lost the Sprint Cup to Beat the Clock, who is trained by Size and part of the Chairman’s Sprint Prize field. Size has a remarkable five of the nine runners in the field, which includes talented shippers from Dubai and Japan.

Beat the Clock, who won the Sprint Cup with a late rally, is Size’s second-best chance.

“His biggest weapon is his finishing speed,” Size said.

Size also runs Amazing Kids, a two-time Group 3 winner; Thewizardofoz, who was seventh behind Mr Stunning in the Hong Kong Sprint in December; and Ivictory, who will have his group stakes debut after four consecutive wins in minor handicaps.

Ivictory’s presence in the Chairman’s Sprint is as much about the future as his chances Sunday.

“He deserves an opportunity, and we’ll find out where we are for next season,” Size said.

The Chairman’s Sprint Prize is so deep that 2017 winner Lucky Bubbles does not look like a realistic contender.

The race will be a test for two stakes winners owned by Godolphin Racing – Blue Point and Fine Needle.

Blue Point, trained by Charlie Appleby, won the Group 2 Meydan Sprint in Dubai in February, but was withdrawn moments before the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan on March 31 after showing blood in a nostril.

Fine Needle, trained by Yoshitada Takahashi, won the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs on turf in Japan last month for his first major stakes win. This will be Fine Needle’s first start away from Japan.

“It will be a test for him to see how he compares,” Takahashi said.

They will all be chasing Peniaphobia, a 7-year-old gelding who won the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in December 2015.

“He’s very straightforward,” jockey Neil Callan said. “Hopefully, he’ll be in the running.”