Mr. Medici Bags Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup

Despite the rain-drenched Sha Tin racecourse, Mr. Medici won his first ever Hong Kong Group 1 victory by cashing in at the Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup. This five-year-old race horse which is trained by Peter Ho has shown significant improvement over his last start. Also, this is Ho’s second Group 1 victory after Packing Winner won the same race over Viva Pataca in 2008.

This Irish-bred race horse has steadily progressed from an initial rating of 88 to Group 1 caliber. For this race, jockey Gerald Mosse steered Mr. Medici to victory after flying in from France. This is Mosse’s first Hong Kong Triple Crown victory. Coming in a second is Super Pistachio and grabbing third spot is perennial winner Viva Pataca.

The rainy conditions made the tough race even tougher and it eventually caused the cancellation of the final two races on schedule. The steady downpour of rain raised concerns among the participants of the Champions and Chater Cup and Mosse expressed that the rain is stronger than they expected. However, he commended his horse for putting up a gallant effort to win the race.

Mr. Medici never relinquished the lead when he got it but Viva Pataca proved to be a threat until he started to show signs of exhaustion 150 metres away from the finish line. This is where Super Pistachio took advantage and finished second.

Meanwhile, the winning horse’s trainer was ecstatic about the victory and the brave performance of his horse. Ho even added that they knew that Mr. Medici can withstand the race conditions when the rain started to drench the Sha Tin horse racing turf. Ho also said that Mosse placed a call from France to express his intention of riding Mr. Medici.

Ho asked the horse’s owner, Allen Shi Lop Tak, who gave the go signal for Mosse granted that the French jockey would race his horse to victory for Shi Lop Tak would pay all of Mosse’s flight and accommodation expenses. Now that the victory is in the books, Ho is eyeing the Cox Plate or the Caulfield Cup for Mr. Medici. And when it rains, the victories and accolades will pour for Mr. Medici.

No related posts.