Veteran C P Brave continues breakout campaign for Yiu
Seven-year-old gelding leads home a quinella for experienced trainer with strong win under Badel
Evergreen galloper C P Brave continued his best Hong Kong season and spearheaded a quinella for Ricky Yiu Poon-fai with a dominant display in the Class Two Advancing Culture & Sports Handicap (1,800m) at Sha Tin yesterday.
The seven-year-old sealed doubles for both his handler and jockey Alexis Badel when he finished powerfully from midfield to beat stablemate Natural Storm by one-and-a-half lengths.
A two-time winner in Britain in 2020, C P Brave recorded only one win from his first three seasons for Tony Millard but has thrived for Yiu with three victories this term.
He added yesterday’s triumph to his back-to-back wins – also over 1,800m at Sha Tin – in December and January.
Yiu, who also struck with Multisuper in the Class Four Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy (1,000m), plans to test C P Brave in coming features, with the Group Three Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2,400m) on May 5 a potential target.
“He’s been consistent throughout this season,” Yiu said.
“He’s a lovely horse and 1,800 is his best trip – anything between 1,800 and 2,000. We will try one or two of these [upcoming] feature races. We’ll see if he can move up to another level. With a different rating, it will be difficult to find another similar distance for him, so we’ll take on the big boys.”
Badel timed his run to perfection on C P Brave, extricating him off the fence on the home turn to launch his winning run down the centre of the track.
“C P Brave is a very pleasant ride, his form over the course and distance is impeccable and I was very keen to ride him because I believed he would be a great chance in this race,” Badel said.
“Eventually the [rain-affected] ground helped him a little bit but he is a quality horse.”
Flaming Rabbit held on for third behind C P Brave while the $3 favourite, Chill Chibi, made late ground to run a solid fourth.
Yiu was over the moon when Multisuper broke through for his first win at start 14. After sitting just off a hot speed set by Super Commander, Multisuper surged to the front at the 200m and held off Red Elegance to win by three-quarters of a length.
“He’s been knocking on the door for a long time,” Yiu said of the Vancouver gelding, who had placed six times before his breakthrough success.
“He has been unlucky on a couple of occasions, but he did his job. The jockey rode him before and knows him well and that was a good performance.”
We’ll see if he can move up to another level ... we’ll take on the big boys TRAINER RICKY YIU
C P Brave capped a race-torace double for Badel after he booted home David Hall’s Solid Impact in the Class Three Nurturing Talent Handicap (1,200m).
In a minor upset, Solid Impact ($12) stormed home to narrowly beat Lady’s Choice and Ima Single Man, while the raging $1.4 favourite Call Me Glorious could only manage fourth after being trapped three-wide without cover on the speed.
“He’s a brilliant horse, he’s got a great heart and he tries very hard,” Badel said of Solid Impact, who he also won on at Sha Tin on March 10.
“From the draw [barrier 10] and with the weight (126 pounds), it was difficult to imagine such a good performance, but it was a pretty smooth race and it was a great effort.”