Recap by phillip woo

Destine Jewellery got up 150m out for the win after a lovely ride hugging the fence in midfield. The weight was overdue after filling the frame in three of four prior starts over this Valley trip. Regency Poet grudgingly gave way after clearing to the front 900m out from a wide gate. He's building towards a win in his past three of seven starts. Lucky Quality stayed on well to get the head down for third travelling behind midfield and one off the fence after rearing at the jump. Winning Controller finished strongly to nearly grab third after making his run at the rear of the field from gate 11. He's not reliable but it was nevertheless an eye-catcher in his first run after a right front cannon bone injury in late November. Punted late Eight Trigrams came up flat with every chance in the oneone. He's likely on his mark after a win three back at Sha Tin. Favourite Happy Good Guys was a non-factor travelling two from the back after missing the start. He had an excuse.

Racing Incident Report

Race Seven: (599) - JONQUIL HANDICAP - Class 4 - 1200Meters

On arrival at the Start, it was noted that by the Veterinary Officer that SUPER EIGHTEEN was lame in the left front leg who said in his opinion it was not suitable to race.

Acting on this advice, SUPER EIGHTEEN was withdrawn by order of the Stewards.

Before being allowed to race again, SUPER EIGHTEEN will be subjected to an official veterinary examination.

EIGHT TRIGRAMS and PRIME TIME bumped at the start.

From the outside barrier, WINNING CONTROLLER was steadied in the early stages and shifted across behind runners.

FLYING GODSPELL got its head up on a number of occasions when being steadied in the early stages from a wide barrier to obtain cover.

Then making the turn near the 1000 Metres, FLYING GODSPELL got its head up when continuing to prove difficult to settle and awkwardly placed outside the heels of LUCKY QUALITY.

After the race, M F Poon stated that FLYING GODSPELL did not travel comfortably at any stage of the race on tonight's track surface and did not close off the race.

Mr K H Ting, the trainer of FLYING GODSPELL, stated that he instructed the rider of that horse to obtain cover from a wide barrier due to the anticipated fast tempo of the race.

He said there were a number of horses engaged in the race which possess good early speed and which had drawn more favourably than FLYING GODSPELL and as he believed that FLYING GODSPELL does not have sufficient speed to be able to cross those horses, there was a strong likelihood that FLYING GODSPELL would be left racing wide and without cover.

He said when racing without cover of late on the turf, FLYING GODSPELL did not finish off the race as well as it did when the horse was successful in January this year when ridden with cover.

He said he was also cognizant of the fact that earlier this season FLYING GODSPELL had performed well when ridden from back in the field and he believed it would be in the best interests of the horse if it were able to be ridden in a similar manner tonight.

After the 700 Metres, PRIME TIME was left racing wide and without cover and in the Straight gave ground.

A veterinary inspection of PRIME TIME immediately following the race including an endoscopic examination showed a substantial amount of blood in the horse's trachea.

Before being allowed to race again, PRIME TIME will be subjected to an official veterinary examination.

JOLLY CONVERGENCE made the Home Turn awkwardly.

The Stewards deferred the declaration of weighed-in whilst they considered if HAPPY GOOD GUYS had been afforded a fair start.

Subsequently C Y Ho, the rider of HAPPY GOOD GUYS, and Mr P F Yiu, the trainer of that horse, lodged a formal application for HAPPY GOOD GUYS to be declared a non-runner.

After hearing evidence from Jockey Ho, Mr Yiu and Mr A Speechley, Starter, and after viewing the videos, the Stewards found that after LUCKY QUALITY, which was drawn inside of HAPPY GOOD GUYS, became fractious, HAPPY GOOD GUYS, which had been standing satisfactorily in the barriers, became fractious just prior to the start being effected and as the start was effected reared which resulted in the horse losing a considerable amount of ground.

As the Stewards were of the view that HAPPY GOOD GUYS had caused its own issues by becoming fractious and rearing as the start was effected and that the Starter could not have reasonably delayed the start, in these circumstances HAPPY GOOD GUYS was deemed to have been afforded a fair start and accordingly that horse was declared a runner.

Both LUCKY QUALITY and HAPPY GOOD GUYS will be required to perform satisfactorily in a stalls test before being allowed to race again.

A veterinary inspection of HAPPY GOOD GUYS immediately following the race did not show any significant findings.

HAPPY GOOD GUYS DESTINE JEWELLERY and REGENCY POET were sent for sampling.