Amber Sky Shortens Up for Centenary Sprint Cup

Amber Sky (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), last year’s G1 Al Quoz Sprint hero, will look to get back to the winner’s circle for the first time since in defense of his title in the Centenary Sprint Cup going the straight five furlongs this afternoon at Sha Tin. 

The bay gelding ran a hole in the wind 12 months back, stretching away to score by 2 1/4 lengths in the time of :55.86. He reproduced the effort in Dubai, scoring by a neck, but went missing for the next six months, returning to be fourth to Bundle of Joy (Aus) (Magic Albert {Aus}) under 132 pounds in the National Day Cup H. Oct. 1. Despite having things mostly his own way when trying 1200 meters in the G2 Jockey Club Sprint Nov. 23–at odds of 47-1–he gave way readily and caused traffic problems for several rivals before finishing eighth to Peniaphobia (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}). 

“He missed training for about two weeks after he ran in the 1200-meter race in November,” trainer Ricky Yiu explained. “He missed a couple of weeks again at the end of December. Before I went to Australia for the sales earlier this month, I wasn’t too optimistic about being able to run him, but when I got back I felt that we should put him in this race. He’s shown me that he’s well enough to run.” 

Peniaphobia attempted to make history in the Hong Kong Sprint last time by becoming the first 3-year-old to win the race, but was just gunned down in the waning strides by Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins {Aus}), who was the horse most hampered by Amber Sky in the Jockey Club Sprint. He’ll cut back in trip for this, but acquitted himself well with a runner-up effort in the National Day Cup. He’ll have the disadvantageous one hole (stands’ side) post to deal with. 

Eagle Regiment (Aus) (El Moxie), bred on the same cross responsible for Hong Kong legendary sprinter Silent Witness (Aus), owned this track at one point and took this event in 2012 and 2013. However, the oft-sidelined gelding, who has won seven times up the straight, has not tasted victory since defending his title successfully two years ago.