Green Birdie Confidence

Green Birdie Confidence                                                                             2 Oct 2010

Courtesy of ANZ Bloodstock News

 

The other slight worry about Ultra Fantasy is that he lost some weight on the journey to Nakayama, via the quarantine stable in Tokyo. “He lost about 25lbs in his travels,” says Yiu, “but he’s relaxed and put the weight back on. Japan’s bad weather has been a slight problem too as it’s made the track very deep. So we haven’t been able to work him quite as we’d wanted, and postponed the fast work he was going to do on Wednesday. But the plan now is to give him his final gallop tomorrow.”
Yiu is uncomfortable rather than inconsolable about the continuing rain. “Soft probably wouldn’t be a help to him, although really I just don’t know,” he says. “But there are 16 runners, so the draw will definitely play a very important part.”
Surprisingly it is not Japan’s current top sprinter Kinshasa No Kiseki (Fuji Kiseki) who’s been drawing rave reviews among the home contenders. In fact, very little is being said about the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (Gr 1, 1200m) winner who is unbeaten in his last four starts, after the bout of colic, which forced his scratching from Centaur Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
Even though he had only had a slow workout, Hong Kong’s Green Birdie (Catbird) was still the focus of attention at Nakayama racecourse in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo on Friday morning, as his human team put final touches on the likely favourite for Sunday’s The Sprinters Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m). “We’re here to win,” was the word from trainer Caspar Fownes, who said he was hoping for a wider draw than the far inside the horse had just been unable to overcome in the recognised Sprinters’ prep, the Centaur Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m). In that race, he finished a fast closing second when conceding weight and first run to the winner, Dasher Go Go (Sakura Bakushin O).
The rain which has been falling this week has not worried Fownes, who knows “Birdie” can cope with softened turf, as he did in winning the Krisflyer International Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) at Kranji on May 16 as well as in his overseas performances before coming to Hong Kong.
More worried about the possibility of soft ground, however, is Ricky Yiu, trainer of Hong Kong’s other representative Ultra Fantasy (Encosta de Lago), who actually has a defeat of Green Birdie to his credit in last season’s Sprint Cup. But that was on good going, and Yiu concedes that his front-runner may be inconvenienced if the rain keeps falling.
Instead, several others, including One Carat (Falbrav), Headliner (Sakura Bakushin O), B B Guldan (Chief Bearhart), San Carlo (Symboli Kris S), and last year’s winner Laurel Guerreiro (King Halo) have been attracting the attention of Japanese fans. All looked good in fast work yesterday, but it looks as though there will be no single home team standard bearer as Japan prepares to defend the 44th running of the Sprinters, which last went to Hong Kong when Silent Witness (El Moxie) won comfortably in 2005.
Headliner’s connections have announced that they will be looking to lead, and a sharp gallop up the hill course at Ritto Training Centre on Wednesday, indicated the six-year-old gelding has the pace to do so. A son of Sakura Bakushin O, who back in 1994 captured the Sprinters Stakes at the lowest odds in the race’s history, Headliner covered 800 metres in 51.6 seconds, wrapping up with an uphill 11.9-second for the final 200m.
B B Guldan trained alone on the wood-chip course at Ritto and covered 1200m in 83.1 seconds with a 12.2-second final 200m. The time was considered good as the frequent rain has made the going soft. Sunny skies prevailed over Japan on Wednesday, but there was heavy rain again today, and no further sunshine is predicted between now and Sunday.

Back to News