Dominant Dominates in HK Vase Gr.1

22 Dec 2013

 

Rathasker bred Dominant (Casique / Es Que) wins the Hong Kong Vase Group 1 beating The Fugue and Dunaden. He swept from last to first to clinch a shock win under jockey of the moment Zac Purton in the Gr.1 Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse. The victory was unexpected but that did not make it any less sweet for trainer John Moore, for whom this win brought up a full set of triumphs in the four Hong Kong International Races. “It’s a big surprise, I can tell you,” said Moore after the five-year-old son of Juddmonte stallion Cacique had held the late rally of the favourite The Fugue (Dansili) by three quarters of a length in a time of 2m 27.29s.

 

“When we drew gate 14, my jaw dropped out and I thought we had no chance at all. He was given a fantastic ride by Zac. He was allowed to find his feet and he got to the line even better than I thought he would, because I thought he might be just lacking mileage in his legs to do what he did today. I was wrong, I erred. Zac Purton, the great rider – we are up here with a race we didn’t expect to win.”

 

Zac commented “It worked out well for me because it was a nice even tempo for him and that’s what he appreciated.” Purton dropped Dominant out at the tail after breaking from the widest gate and settled into a smooth rhythm as the German filly Nymphea (Dylan Thomas) set the pace up front in the 12-runner field. Meanwhile, the crack British mare, The Fugue, travelled handily under William Buick in the slipstream of Gr.1 Melbourne Cup third Mount Athos (Montjeu), but when that rival began to falter midway down the backstretch, he in turn shuffled back the British filly.With the race heating up at the 300m pole, Purton was wide in the home straight and motoring for home, while Buick and The Fugue found themselves taken back and around the field, and in pursuit of the one-time back marker. Dominant galloped strongly to the wire as The Fugue chased gallantly for another runner-up finish to go with her Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Turf second.

 

“When they steadied up down by the 1200m and they all started to bunch up I could see a couple of the favoured runners just going to be held up in a bit of trouble, so I was able to move into the race with nice galloping room around the outside,” said Purton. “I thought they’re getting boxed up, so I might as well try and get a break on them and see how we go, and luckily enough I had enough in the tank.”

 

Moore now has his sights set on Dubai in March and the Gr.1 Dubai Sheema Classic at the Dubai World Cup meeting. “There isn’t anything here for him, so the obvious race to look at is the Sheema Classic in Dubai,” said Moore. 

 

Bred by Rathasker, Dominant was purchased for 95,000gns at Book 1 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by John Warren for Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, when he was consigned by Rathasker Stud. He won the £150,000 Tattersalls Millions 3-Y-O Cup at Newmarket and finished third to Twice Over (Observatory) in the Gr.2 York Stakes, after which he was sold to continue his career in Hong Kong.

He is a half-brother to the smart four-year-old colt Es Que Love (Clodovil), who has been twice Listed placed, and is out of the three-year-old winner Es Que (Inchinor), a daughter of the Listed Prix Rose de Mai winner and Gr.3 Prix Penelope third Bellona (Bering). Es Que’s Invincible Spirit colt foal sold for 235,000gns last week at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale. Her yearling colt by Fast Company was sold for 75,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale to Fiona Shaw on behalf of Marc Keller, while Es Que Love was purchased later that month in the same sales ring at Autumn Horses in Training Sale for 110,000gns by Clive Cox. Es Que is currently in foal to Sea The Stars.

 

Race Video ;

http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/video/play.asp?type=replay-full&date=20131208&no=04&lang=eng

 

 

TDN summary ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_39zO0H5U&feature=youtu.be

Search News

Search