By Alan Carasso
Trainer John Moore has the proverbial embarrassment of riches where it comes to this year's Classic crop, as the four highest-rated 4-year-olds reside in his shedrow. Booming Delight (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) has improvement to find to join that upper echelon, but with a good-looking win in Class 3 Saturday, he edged a bit closer towards a possible start in major races over the next two months.
A two-time winner and sixth in the Brittania H. in Britain when trained by William Haggas as Out and About, he was third over 1400m on his Hong Kong debut Dec. 11 and improved by one spot when beaten a short head going the metric mile Jan. 1. The 7-5 favorite on this stretch-out to nine panels, Booming Delight (129 pounds) settled a few spots ahead of midfield for Sam Clipperton and began his run with cover as they raced inside the final three furlongs. Pulled out into the clear at the top of the lane, he raced to the front with about 250m to travel and outfinished second choice and 133-pound top-weight Prawn Baba (Aus) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) by a neck (video).
“That was a dominant win,” insisted Clipperton. “I made a long run on him because Joao [Moreira] was pulling out on Prawn Baba and I knew he was the horse to beat. I knew my horse had a lot of quality; he's a stayer on the rise, so I made my run. He was getting tired late but he stuck to his task and won very well.”
With Moore in Australia for the Magic Millions sale, winning owner Peter Law hinted that next Sunday's Hong Kong Classic Mile could be in the cards and that “on pedigree, the Derby distance [2000m] should be no problem.”
The winner's full-brother Rivet (GB) validated odds of 11-4 to win the G1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster last October.
Booming Delight (Ire), g, 4, Fastnet Rock (Aus)–Starship (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). Sha Tin, 1-14, Hcp. (£131k/€150k), 1800mT, 1:48.07. B-T Hirschfeld. *Formerly Out and About (Ire) **1/2 to Alexander Pope (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), GSW-Ire, GSP-Eng, $244,385; full to Rivet (Ire), G1SW-Eng, $265,998.
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