Three-year-old Admiration continues to build a platform to the top next season, but he faces a serious stumbling block in the Skol Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin today when he meets the John Size-trained four-year-old Rich Unicorn. Ultimately, the Moore-trained youngster may prove to be the superior horse of the two, but Rich Unicorn (Douglas Whyte) is placed to upset him in the Class One feature. Rich Unicorn is building a nice record himself, with a win and second from three Australian starts and no
Three-year-old Admiration continues to build a platform to the top next season, but he faces a serious stumbling block in the Skol Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin today when he meets the John Size-trained four-year-old Rich Unicorn. Ultimately, the Moore-trained youngster may prove to be the superior horse of the two, but Rich Unicorn (Douglas Whyte) is placed to upset him in the Class One feature.
Rich Unicorn is building a nice record himself, with a win and second from three Australian starts and now six local runs for three wins and a second.
After two big wins on the all-weather track, it looked like Rich Unicorn may have found his niche in Hong Kong racing.
But Whyte was confident Rich Unicorn would cope with the main track at Sha Tin and the gelding has since proved himself just as adept on the firmer surface of the turf.
He was at his best yet in winning last time out over this course and distance. Parked just off the leaders, Rich Unicorn joined in with real authority in the final 200m to leave no doubt the best horse had won the race and there is every reason to think he will find a similar slot in the running from gate six.
With some speedy runners engaged, including Cerise Cherry and Aashiq, there looks a genuine pace in the race and that seems to bring the best from the Size-trained four-year-old, who probably has this one more win in him before the handicapper starts to tighten his grip on the horse.
Admiration (Darren Beadman) is back in trip from 1,400m, but with five wins and three first four finishes from his eight starts and youth on his side, it would be foolish to take him lightly and he has to be the main danger. Admiration gives every indication he will be among Hong Kong's best milers next season, however, gate nine means he may be behind Rich Unicorn as well as conceding a couple of pounds to his older rival.
As ever in these Class One events, it is no small task for the top weights to be successful, and another lightly weighted danger looks Tailwind (Howard Cheng Yue-tin), who finished second to Rich Unicorn last start, and was characterised by his extreme consistency in Australia last year.
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