Recap by phillip woo

Lucky Fun responded nicely to get up 80m out from behind midfield following a troubled start. He's now won back-to-back despite a switch to the dirt here and clearly has room to head higher. Favourite Resolute found one too good after hitting the front 200m out following a one-out, one-back run from a good draw. He ran true to form. Moeraki ran on steadily to fill a placing following a rail run in midfield. It was his best run to date following a switch to the dirt at his second start in Class Four. Well-backed One Happy Star ran on all right to fill the frame after settling one-off in midfield from a wide gate in a pleasing first run on the surface. He keeps promising without delivering. Hero Star plodded when asked for an effort following a prominent run along the fence. He's limited. Handsome Rebel was yielding ground over the final 150m after a pace-stalking run. He has disappointed after opening the campaign with a win.

Racing Incident Report

Race Three: (385) - RAMBLER CHANNEL HANDICAP - Class 4 - 1200Meters

On arrival at the Start, it was noted that KELMIMI WINS had blood in its mouth.

KELMIMI WINS was examined by the Veterinary Officer and found to be suitable to race.

ONE HAPPY STAR shifted out on jumping and inconvenienced URBAN DANCER.

LUCKY FUN stumbled on jumping.

Soon after the start, MOERAKI shifted out despite the efforts of its rider, resulting in STRIKING MR C, which began awkwardly, being taken out and hampering LUCKY FUN and OSCAR GLORY, both of which lost ground.

Then despite being ridden along in the early stages, OSCAR GLORY, which was having its first race start, became detached from the field.

LUCKY FUN made the first turn near the 600 Metres awkwardly and was steadied.

When questioned, K C Leung stated that as there were a number of horses with good early speed, he was asked not to bustle STRIKING MR C along from the start, but rather allow the horse to jump and travel comfortably and take up a position behind the leaders.

He said it was felt that the horse, which has a well-documented history of breathing issues, would perform best if not ridden hard in the early stages to obtain a forward position.

He said STRIKING MR C settled slightly further back than was intended, however, travelled reasonably well in the early stages.

He added after being placed under pressure in the Straight, STRIKING MR C gave only a brief response before weakening over the latter stages.

Trainer T P Yung confirmed the instructions and expected that STRIKING MR C would be able to settle behind the leaders, however, after beginning awkwardly, the horse settled further back than intended.

A veterinary inspection of STRIKING MR C and DEMONS ROCK immediately following the race did not show any significant findings.

A veterinary inspection of KELMIMI WINS immediately following the race found that horse to be a "roarer??which had previously been reported.

LUCKY FUN and RESOLUTE were sent for sampling.