Frankie Lor chasing Eight To Glory with The Azure
Hong Kong trainer Frankie Lor is hoping The Azure (NZ) (Wrote) can salute again at Happy Valley when the city track embraces football fever on Wednesday night as it hosts the Class 4 Eight To Glory, Presented by Lenovo (1650m handicap). The event is carded as Race 4 and will be run at 8.10pm local time (12.10am NZ time).
In the unique eight-runner event, each horse will symbolise one of the eight remaining nations as the football tournament enters the quarter-final stage. Jockeys will sport specially designed silks inspired by the flags and national colours of the country they symbolise, with six quarter-finalists determined by Monday and Tuesday, and the remainder to be confirmed on Wednesday.
The field for the special race consists of Forza Toro (133lb), who will be ridden by Joao Moreira in Spain colours, Sturdy Ruby (133lb, Vincent Ho, Argentina or Egypt), Superb Kid (129lb, Jerry Chau, Morocco), The Azure (127lb, Zac Purton, Switzerland or Colombia), Lucky Year (126lb, Andrea Atzeni, Belgium), Precision Hope (121lb, Alexis Badel, France), Podium (119lb, Matthew Poon, Norway) and Star Elegance (119lb, Lyle Hewitson, England).
Lor is looking forward to the event and is expecting The Azure to run well. A four-time winner at this course and distance, the Wrote gelding finished sixth in his last start, three-and-three-quarter lengths behind the winner, Viva Firecracker, after starting from gate 12 under Zac Purton.
Lor said: “This will be a suitable race for The Azure and has been on our radar all along. We ensured he would have a good chance to be in the race and I am glad he can participate in the event.
“The barrier cost him last start, indeed it is always difficult if you start from gate 12 over 1650m at Happy Valley. He is still in fine form, and hopefully, he can have better luck during the race this time as there is a smaller field. Purton will ride him again,” Lor said. - Hong Kong Jockey Club
Group Two performer returning to favourite surface
Polytrack specialist Lhasa (Hellbent) showed he is no one-trick pony when performing up to the highest level on the grass this season, but he will return to his favourite surface when he lines up in the Remembering Ngakau Hailey 1300 at Cambridge’s synthetic meeting on Thursday.
The Hellbent gelding has recorded six of his seven wins on the synthetic, but trainer Mark Treweek gave the six-year-old his chance on the grass this season and he was rewarded with a runner-up result in the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa last August.
Lhasa also went on to compete in the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham in January, where he finished 13th, but Treweek said they subsequently found he had a slight hip issue and was sent for a spell and he has been pleased with the way his gelding has returned.
“We found he was a bit out in the hip after his last run last time,” Treweek said. “He has been working really well and feels a lot better at the moment.”
Lhasa had his first run of his winter campaign at Ellerslie last month, where he finished last in a six-horse field over 1400m, but Treweek said he needed the run, and he is looking forward to returning to the synthetic with his gelding ahead of targeting the $60,000 Synthetic Final (1400m) at Awapuni later this month.
“We gave him a run on the grass at Auckland where he had a good blow a few weeks ago,” Treweek said. “I wanted to give him one run on the synthetic and then head to the $60,000 race at Awapuni, he will have another crack at that.”
The 90-rated gelding has been lumbered with a 65kg impost on Thursday, but he will get some weight relief courtesy of apprentice jockey Tom Wigram’s four-kilogram claim.
Weight has become Lhasa’s biggest obstacle, and as a result Treweek said he has to be strategic about when he races his gelding on the synthetic.
“Because he is getting the weight that he is getting I can’t afford to run him too much on the synthetic, but he is very well, so I am expecting a good run,” he said.
Following his runner-up result in this season’s Foxbridge Plate, Treweek has next month’s Te Rapa feature firmly in the crosshairs, although he said the weather will dictate if he takes that route.
“We will just keep ticking him over and keep him fit and have another look at the Foxbridge, depending on the track of course,” Treweek said.
“If it is too heavy we wouldn’t go, but he got away with it (Heavy track) last year, it came up as an (Heavy)8, but he seemed to cope with it well. Being a sand-based track, it is a little bit different than some of the other tracks, he seems to cope there not too bad.”
Treweek will also be represented at Cambridge by Seamsew (Brazen Beau), who has a similarly impressive record on the synthetic, having recorded four of his five wins on the surface.
The seven-year-old gelding hasn’t been sighted on raceday since October last year and will have to overcome his impost of 61.5kg first-up, with Treweek electing to utilise the services of a senior jockey in Samantha Collett.
“He has had quite a long break,” Treweek said. “We will just have to keep him to the short trips, and he won’t have many runs either.
“Sam Collett will ride him. He is a big, strong horse and he can be a little bit difficult to ride, so he is not a horse we have ever looked at putting a four-kilo claimer on before.
“He is really well, I am really happy with him, and he should be right in it on Thursday as well.” - Joshua Smith LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
NZ Racing Desk
Joshua Smith
NZ Racing Desk
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