While American racing voices shout back and forth about the spacing of the Triple Crown, no one in Hong Kong pays their Triple Crown a whole lot of heed. It’s only a point of increased conversation this season because Voyage Bubble on Sunday at Sha Tin has a chance to become the first Hong Kong Triple Crown winner since River Verdon pulled off the feat 31 years ago.
First of all, Hong Kong’s Triple Crown has nothing to do with 3-year-olds – because Hong Kong races of consequence aren’t even offered to horses younger than 4. The series comprises the Group 1 Stewards Cup over 1,600 meters in January, the Group 1 Gold Cup over 2,000 meters in February, and on Sunday the Group 1 Champions and Chater Cup, contested at 2,400 meters, or about 1 1/2 miles.
The heart of Hong Kong racing lies between 1,200 meters and 2,000 meters, and few Hong Kong horses race 2,400 meters much less excel at it. Voyage Bubble, Hong Kong’s leading horse this year outside of the great Romantic Warrior, won the Stewards Cup by two lengths, the Gold Cup by 3 3/4, but has never raced farther than 2,000 meters. The gelding’s trainer, Ricky Yiu, is bullish on the gelding’s prospects, telling Hong Kong Jockey Club publicity that in the Champions and Chater Cup, “We’re only talking about 400 meters more,” which seems a little like saying, “We’ve been to the moon, so no trouble making it to Mars.”
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Voyage Bubble exits a surprise defeat April 27 in the Group 1 Champions Mile, where huge longshot Red Lion set the pace and held off the heavy favorite by a nose while racing at level weights. It’s level weights again and neither Red Lion nor any of the other locals seem any more keen than Voyage Bubble to race as far as 2,400 meters in Sunday’s $1.1 million contest: As they say, any horse can win at any distance given the right competition.
The stick in Voyage Bubble’s spokes is Dubai Honour, who, theoretically, is based in England with trainer William Haggas, but in reality spends much of his time travelling the world to run in rich races between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 miles. His last two starts, good ones, came this spring in Australia, and in December he checked in second in the Hong Kong Vase. Sunday’s race marks his fifth outing in Hong Kong. None of the first four tries resulted in victory, but three of those came in tougher 2,000-meter Group 1s, and Dubai Honour, unlike the Hong Kong star, clearly sees out this extended trip. That might be sufficient to send him to the Sha Tin winner’s circle and leave the Hong Kong racing fans, inasmuch as they care, awaiting the next Triple Crown winner.
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