By Alan Carasso
Barrier draws for Sunday's G1 Champions Mile and G1 Chairman's Sprint Prize were held Thursday morning a short time after the international horses had been tucked away in the quarantine stables, and neither of the horses who are expected to run favourites was done any harm by drawing in gate six.
Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Ire}) could be as short as odds-on in the Champions Mile, at HK$14 million the richer of the two events, despite not having raced since taking out the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile over the course and distance some 140 days prior. In that event, Ryan Moore was forced to work out a trip from the 11 hole, and Joao Moreira, who will take over at the controls this weekend, believes the six will make life slightly easier.
“The gate is not too bad, in fact it's good in my opinion. He's going to find it much easier to find a position with cover from there than he had to do in December,” the 'Magic Man' submitted.
Moreira rode the now-injured Able Friend (Aus) (Shamardal) to a third- place effort behind Maurice in December.
Giant Treasure (Mizzen Mast) turned in what was then a career best when second to Maurice late last year, then proved the effort was no fluke with a win in the G1 Stewards' Cup the following month. The Juddmonte Farm-bred grey drew gate nine, with Olivier Peslier set to jet in for the ride.
“With Giant Treasure's nine, I'm not too perturbed,” said trainer Richard Gibson. “There'll be good speed on I expect and he'll have clear air and something to run at.”
Chautauqua (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}), the world's top-rated sprinter on official rankings, has a little something to prove this weekend as he ventures beyond Australia for the first time. The 5-year-old, who has made a very favourable impression over the last 10 days or so, likes to get back and come with a barnstorming finish and will leave the middle of the gate Sunday.
“He's not going to get locked away on the fence from there,” his jockey Tommy Berry surmised. “It's good. We all know he's going to settle back and I can let him do his thing from there. I realise it won't be easy coming from a long way back, but I won't be any closer early than the horse wants to be.”
His compatriot, the Queenslander Buffering (Aus) (Mossman {Aus}), is going as well as ever at age eight and will look to add to his last-out success in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint from barrier three, just to the outside of fellow speedster Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday).
“I wanted four but three will do,” affable trainer Robert Heathcote said after Buffering was the last horse to be drawn. “The speed is largely outside us and we might have had to work a fair bit harder had he drawn out. I'm very happy with three and happy for Buffering to lead, as he's got a high cruising speed and he's a hard horse to get passed.”
The hardest-luck story in either draw was Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins {Aus}), who landed the riverside alley in 14. Zac Purton will have to work some magic from there, though it should be noted that Peniaphobia (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) took out December's G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint from the same gate.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
