Northern Superstar issues edict ahead of Hong Kong Cup
– Northern Superstar – formerly Edict Of Nantes, a dual Grade 1 winner and Durban July third in South Africa – finished sixth out of 12 in his Hong Kong debut yesterday.
Trained by Tony Millard and ridden by fellow South African Grant van Niekerk, the five-yearold son of Count Du Bois was never pushed at any stage of the Class 1 Chevalier Cup, the feature race on the Sha Tin card – and finished just 4.50 lengths off the winner, Simply Brilliant.
Millard was pleased with the performance of Northern Superstar, who had not raced since December 2017.
“It was a very good run. He finished off very strongly just with hands and heels. He was three wide and really it was an amazing run for his first of the season and after a year off,” said the former SA champion conditioner.
The race was a warm-up for the upcoming Hong Kong Cup on Longines International Day at Sha Tin in a fortnight’s time.
“We’ll go for the big race and we’ll see. Two weeks is not ideal, but we’ll do our best. Whatever happens, he is going to have a say in what happens for the rest of the season,” Millard added.
In victory, Simply Brilliant was just that, defying a wide, fast-run turn to give trainer Frankie Lor and jockey Alexis Badel their most significant wins in Hong Kong.
Simply Brilliant may have covered ground but was “in a rhythm” according to his rider and was able to repel a late thrust from What Else But You to win by a neck in a race which has been won by such luminaries as Electronic Unicorn, Beauty Flash and Designs On Rome.
The opening two races on the programme went to the Tony Cruz-Karis Teetan trainer-jockey combo, as Multimillion took the first and Supreme Witness the second.
The doubles took Cruz to the top of the trainers’ premiership and Teetan to within one of jockeys’ race leader Zac Purton – before the titleholder re-established a margin of two with victory on Romantic Chef in Race 4. – www.hkjc.com