Recap by phillip woo

Plunged late, Mighty Gains sat on the rails in second behind Rising Power, shot to the front three deep at the 180m and had enough left in the tank to just hold Sledge Hammer for a maiden win at his 12 th start. Sledge Hammer preferred to travel without cover fore of midfield, swung the final bend with one wider out and finished well to make it close at the wire. Favourite Gold Precious made his run one off the fence in third, straightened four deep and ran on steadily to grab a placing 30m out. He was again a nervous ball of sweat before the run and will need to take a chill pill before he can raise his game. Rising Power had his own way up front, cornered two lengths on top and was giving way 150m out. Lucky Bole was on heels at times while making his run fourth along the rails, stayed near the inside upon straightening and only held his ground under pressure despite a drop in grade. P J Hall and Win Chance were slow into stride and never a factor.

Racing Incident Report

Race One: (067)-TUNG WAN SHAN HANDICAP - Class 5 - 1200Metres

At declaration time, K Teetan was declared as the rider of both P J HALL and NO TIES.

It was established that K Teetan had a firm commitment to ride NO TIES.

As such, the Stewards permitted N Rawiller to be substituted as the rider of P J HALL.

For this declaration error, Trainer D J Hall was fined $2,000.

The Stewards were advised this morning by Dr P Curl, Executive Manager, Veterinary Regulation, that a review of the treatment records for runners declared for tonight's racemeeting had revealed that NO TIES, trained by Mr P O'Sullivan, had been administered the Club-authorized product, Kenacort-A, which contains the raceday prohibited substance triamcinolone acetonide on 30 September 2014, 7 clear days prior to tonight's racemeeting.

He also advised that the Veterinary Surgeon allocated to Mr O'Sullivan's stable who administered the treatment to NO TIES had recommended a 18 clear day withdrawal period and not less than 14 clear days.

After this matter was brought to the attention of Mr O'Sullivan, the Stewards acceded to an application submitted by him to withdraw NO TIES from this race and accordingly NO TIES was withdrawn by order of the Stewards.

The Stewards were advised late this afternoon that the pre-race urine sample taken from NO TIES at approximately 5:30 this morning had shown an elevated level of triamcinolone acetonide.

The Stewards tonight interviewed Mr O'Sullivan about this matter.

Also present were Mr P C Ng, assistant trainer allocated to Mr O'Sullivan's stable, and Dr Curl.

Mr O'Sullivan subsequently pleaded guilty to a breach of Rule 50(2) in that as the person responsible for all matters pertaining to the running of his stable, he negligently entered and declared NO TIES to compete in this race when that horse had been treated with Kenacort-A, 7 clear days prior to this race, such clear day period being well inside the recommended withdrawal period as advised by the Club's Department of Veterinary Clinical Services.

After giving consideration to all the circumstances relating to this matter, the Stewards believed the appropriate penalty was for Mr O'Sullivan to be fined the sum of $20,000.

DELIGHT FORTUNE shifted out at the start and hampered WIN CHANCE.

For some distance after the 1000 Metres, LUCKY BOLE, which had been ridden forward in an attempt to obtain running to the inside of MIGHTY GAINS, raced in restricted room inside that horse which raced tight inside RISING POWER.

Making the turn near the 700 Metres, SLEDGE HAMMER shifted out and bumped DELIGHT FORTUNE on a number of occasions.

Also making the turn near the 700 Metres, LUCKY BOLE got its head on the side and shifted out towards the heels of GOLD PRECIOUS.

SLEDGE HAMMER made the Home Turn awkwardly.

In the early part of the Straight, GOLD PRECIOUS and SLEDGE HAMMER made contact as a result of GOLD PRECIOUS attempted to improve into tight running between MIGHTY GAINS and SLEDGE HAMMER.

When questioned, N Rawiller stated that he had been asked to take up a forward position on P J HALL if possible.

He said as the start was effected, P J HALL lifted its front feet off the ground, leant against the inside of its stall and consequently was slow to begin.

He said whilst the opportunity was there for him to ride his mount along and attempt to race inside LUCKY BOLE, he did not feel the horse would have sufficient speed to maintain this position given the manner in which it began and therefore he elected to shift P J HALL out away from the rail which resulted in it racing further back in the field than had been anticipated.

He added P J HALL travelled satisfactorily in the early and middle stages, but did not finish off the race in the Straight.

When questioned, O Doleuze stated that whilst he had not been under any specific instructions on how to ride RISING POWER, it was felt that the horse may show some speed whilst fresh and be able to obtain a position behind the pace.

He said RISING POWER began very well and showed early speed and therefore he elected to use his initiative and allowed the horse to continue forward to eventually lead.

He added whilst it had not been anticipated that RISING POWER would be that far forward, the horse nonetheless performed well.

A veterinary inspection of LUCKY BOLE immediately following the race did not show any significant findings.

GOLD PRECIOUS, MIGHTY GAINS and SLEDGE HAMMER were sent for sampling.