Captain’ Looks to ‘Crunch’ Them in the Mile

He’ll be an outsider–well, with Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal) in the field, they’re all ‘longshots’ in a sense–but you can’t win if you don’t play and the consistent Captain Cat (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) jets in for tomorrow’s G1 Hong Kong Mile with a roughie’s chance to hit the board. 

Trained by Roger Charlton, who won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club (Sanglamore) and G1 Epsom Derby (Quest for Fame) in the space of three glorious days in 1990 and sent out Cityscape (GB) (Selkirk) to a runner-up effort in the 2011 Hong Kong Mile, Captain Cat has had a productive–and busy–campaign in 2014. 

Easy winner of Salisbury’s G3 Sovereign S. Aug. 14, the bay gelding slipped to third as the favorite in the G2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood just nine days later. He returned to the win column with a thoroughly dominating success in the G3 Superior Mile at Haydock Sept. 6, but was runner-up in the G2 Joel S. at Newbury Sept. 26, his fourth run in the span of 34 days. Sent off at odds of 14-1 for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. on Champions Day at Ascot Oct. 18 over unsuitably soft ground, Captain Cat hardly embarrassed himself with a fifth behind Charm Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and was most recently fourth in the Listed Hyde S. on the Kempton Polytrack Nov. 11. 

“He’s done well out here, has travelled well and everything has gone as one would hope,” said Charlton. “It’s going to be very tough obviously against the local horses, but maybe it helps a bit that the favourite has been drawn widest of all. Captain Cat is going to have to run a career best, but he will like the track and the fast ground which is what suits him, and he will be best suited by a strong pace in the race, which hopefully he will get.”