Recap by phillip woo

Military Attack settled midfield and one off the rails, rallied four deep upon straightening and quickened nicely to snatch victory on the wire from Gold-Fun in his first run since April following a stable change. Gold-Fun settled one-out, one-back, rounded the final bend five deep, hit the front passing the 100m out and was bloused on the wire. Ambitious Dragon finished strongly with one wider out after a deep run with cover behind midfield from an outside alley to just snatch third from Blazing Speed in a terrific first run back following an injury. Blazing Speed rushed forward without cover to eventually sit outside the leader Flagship Shine through moderate fractions, responded to hit the front 400m out and went down fighting.

Racing Incident Report

Race Nine: (119)-THE ORIENTAL WATCH SHA TIN TROPHY (HANDICAP) - Hong Kong Group Two - 1600Metres

HELENE SPIRIT was withdrawn on 24.10.14 by order of the Stewards acting on veterinary advice (swollen left fore tendon) and was replaced by Standby Declared Starter SAME WORLD (K C Leung).

Before being allowed to race again, HELENE SPIRIT will be subjected to an official veterinary examination.

Passing the 1400 Metres, RAINBOW CHIC got its head up on a number of occasions when proving difficult to settle.

After the 1000 Metres, ENDOWING proved very difficult to settle and was checked away from the heels of GOLD-FUN.

ENDOWING was then left racing wide and without cover.

Z Purton (MILITARY ATTACK) was found guilty of a charge of careless riding [Rule 100(1)] in that over the concluding stage he permitted his mount to shift out when not clear of BLAZING SPEED, causing that horse to be crowded for room inside GOLD-FUN and to lose the running to which it was rightfully entitled.

Z Purton was suspended from riding in races for a period to expire on Thursday, 13 November 2014 on which day he may resume race riding (2 Hong Kong racedays).

The commencement of the suspension was deferred until after the Victoria Racing Club's race meeting to be conducted on Saturday, 8 November 2014.

In assessing penalty, the Stewards took into consideration Jockey Purton's good race riding record during the most recent 2013/2014 and current racing seasons.

When questioned, J Moreira stated that, in his opinion, DESIGNS ON ROME was not disappointing in the race.

He said he had hoped to be able to shift to the outside of runners in the Straight, however, due to the circumstances of the race DESIGNS ON ROME was required to make its run towards the inside.

He said after being somewhat flat-footed rounding the Home Turn, DESIGNS ON ROME, in his opinion, closed off the race quite well over the concluding stages.

A veterinary inspection of DESIGNS ON ROME immediately following the race did not show any significant findings.

A veterinary inspection of DIBAYANI immediately after the race revealed the horse had bled from both nostrils.

DESIGNS ON ROME, MILITARY ATTACK and GOLD-FUN were sent for sampling.