Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint

[ForzaFerrari88]

Is this the end of the road for the local sprint king? Judging by his last two races,it appears to be so.

[video=youtube;Rdu5hllA_Fw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdu5hllA_Fw[/video]

I thot they should have left him in Hong Kong after the last effort and put the horse under the care of AS Cruz. Spell the horse for a while and bring him back again to contest the Japanese and Hong Kong Sprints. P. Shaw did an excellent job and probably brought him as far as he could.

Cruz is a master conditioner himself and a wonderful trainer. He can certainly take Rocket Man to greater heights with his ability and more importantly with the keen competition available in Hong Kong, something u cannot find here in Singapore.

 

[Talking Donkey]

The trainer of rocketman has over trained the poor horse.
after a fair run in the G1 sprint in japan,he should have take it easy and keep him fresh for the HK sprint,giving some light work,one or two easy pacework and a barrier jumpout to sharpen him up will do.
lets look at what rocketman did since returning back from japan
2weeks later after a tiring trip from japan,he straight went into a series of workout
37.9...34.5...35.4...a barrier jumpout on 29oct which he won..again another on barrier on 8th nov
race on 11nov gold cup meeting which he actually struggle to win
and another barrier jumpout before leaving for HK which he struggle to win.
in HK he did 2gallop and a pacework in 1week.
in my opinion even if rocketman would have drawn barrier 1 he still will be beaten easily by the HK runners.
the winner lucky nine has only 1 barrier jumpout since returning from japan.

the trainer must know that rocketman is not CARL LEWIS and is not getting younger anymore.
he had better not take rocketman to dubai defend the G1 golden shaheen which he won last year
he should sent the horse for a good holidays to the carribean islands imediately.
bring the horse back in march and from there see how it goes whether to prepare him for the SIA sprint in may
and if rocketman still show signs of sourness in him the trainer had better skip the SIA G1,if the trainer still train him like he is still carl lewis..then i can honestly say this time rocketman has rocket to the moon and never come back forever.

 

[ForzaFerrari88]

The trainer of rocketman has over trained the poor horse.
after a fair run in the G1 sprint in japan,he should have take it easy and keep him fresh for the HK sprint,giving some light work,one or two easy pacework and a barrier jumpout to sharpen him up will do.
lets look at what rocketman did since returning back from japan
2weeks later after a tiring trip from japan,he straight went into a series of workout
37.9...34.5...35.4...a barrier jumpout on 29oct which he won..again another on barrier on 8th nov
race on 11nov gold cup meeting which he actually struggle to win
and another barrier jumpout before leaving for HK which he struggle to win.
in HK he did 2gallop and a pacework in 1week.
in my opinion even if rocketman would have drawn barrier 1 he still will be beaten easily by the HK runners.
the winner lucky nine has only 1 barrier jumpout since returning from japan.

the trainer must know that rocketman is not CARL LEWIS and is not getting younger anymore.
he had better not take rocketman to dubai defend the G1 golden shaheen which he won last year
he should sent the horse for a good holidays to the carribean islands imediately.
bring the horse back in march and from there see how it goes whether to prepare him for the SIA sprint in may
and if rocketman still show signs of sourness in him the trainer had better skip the SIA G1,if the trainer still train him like he is still carl lewis..then i can honestly say this time rocketman has rocket to the moon and never come back forever.

I concur with your astute observation that the horse has gone sour. Rocket Man was unlucky not to win last year and I feel he should be given a tilt at the Hong Kong Sprints again. They should just spell him as you suggested and give the Golden Shaheen a miss. I thought it be better that the horse be left with a Hong Kong handler with the goal of taking out the Japanese and Hong Kong Sprints. I can't think of a better trainer than Tony Cruz.

 

[Talking Donkey]

I concur with your astute observation that the horse has gone sour. Rocket Man was unlucky not to win last year and I feel he should be given a tilt at the Hong Kong Sprints again. They should just spell him as you suggested and give the Golden Shaheen a miss. I thought it be better that the horse be left with a Hong Kong handler with the goal of taking out the Japanese and Hong Kong Sprints. I can't think of a better trainer than Tony Cruz.

This won't happen,the owner is a south african and they tend to support their fella countryman.
owner and trainer friendship has been thru thick and thin when the trainer started tranning here in 2000.

Agree that Tony Cruz a top jockey before is a good trainer,both he and his brother derek was in spore for a 3mth stint
in the late 80s learning the rope from my friend the late champion trainer Ivan Allan.

 

[ForzaFerrari88]

This won't happen,the owner is a south african and they tend to support their fella countryman.
owner and trainer friendship has been thru thick and thin when the trainer started tranning here in 2000.

Agree that Tony Cruz a top jockey before is a good trainer,both he and his brother derek was in spore for a 3mth stint
in the late 80s learning the rope from my friend the late champion trainer Ivan Allan.

It would be sad if the horse is not allowed to realize its full potential. Well, at least Patrick Shaw should look at what he has done differently from last season and just maybe the horse needs time to acclimatized. However, I agree that something was already amiss when the horse clocked slow times in races leading up to the big one.

Last but not least for the sake of racing, reinstall Felix Coetzee for the big races. In all fairness to Vorster, he's a darn good jock but truth be told he lacks the experience in big International races. In the Japanese sprint, Felix Coetzee appeared to have made a huge mistake and I have still not heard why Coetzee did not roll Rocket Man out when he had a chance, knowing very well that the straight was going to be a short one. Having said that I still feel that there is simply no substitute for the wealth of experience that he has especially after steering SilentWitness to several International wins.