Over 92,000 at Sha Tin to witness former Joseph O’Brien-trained Stunning Peach land Year of the Horse Cup
A Chinese New Year Raceday crowd of 92,612 were in attendance at Sha Tin to welcome in the New Year and see Stunning Peach, formerly trained by Joseph O’Brien, win the feature HK$3.12 million (approx. £300,000) Class 2 Year of the Horse Cup.
In total nearly 100,000 fans were watching in Hong Kong, with another 5,000 people watching the action on screens at Happy Valley Racecourse, and turnover on the day hit HK$1840 million (approx. £175m).
Stunning Peach, who twice finished runner-up in Group 1 company for O’Brien when known as Islandsinthestream, fended off a desperate late challenge from Top Dragon to triumph by a short head under rider Angus Chung.
It was the Tony Cruz-trained five-year-old’s second win in 14 starts in Hong Kong, and he has now claimed prize money of HK$7.8 million (approx. £740,000) in the territory.
The success marked dual Hong Kong champion trainer Cruz’s third win in the race previously known as the Chinese New Year Cup.
Having added Stunning Peach’s name to the race winners’ list, joining former Cruz gallopers Penglai Xianzi (2013) and Beauty Smile (2021), Cruz outlined ambitious plans for the Wootton Bassett gelding.
“I’ve got big ideas for him. I always thought he was a good horse. He got injured (in 2024) at Happy Valley and now he’s fully recovered I’m aiming for the top – I’m aiming for Group races in Hong Kong and when he wins Group races, I would consider looking overseas with this horse.
“He had a light weight today. The last time he ran he had 135lb. Today, he had 116lb – that tells the tale,” Cruz said. “With that light weight, these other horses don’t stand a chance. He was getting weight off every horse.
“Angus rode a perfect race from his good draw (barrier four) and the weight was such a big advantage today – it was massive even though the distance was too short.”
The honour of winning the first race in the Lunar Year of the Horse fell to rider Richard Kingscote, who charged home late aboard Jimmy Ting’s Come Fast Fay Fay, while in the final race on the card Irish rider Dylan Browne McMonagle secured a seventh win of his stint in Hong Kong aboard the David Eustace-trained Riding Together.
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (22 February) with the HK$13 million (approx. £1.2m) G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup, where Ka Ying Rising will aim to secure an 18th consecutive win and exceed the record he holds together with Silent Witness.
READ NEXT: Ante-post market leaders with Cheltenham Festival just around the corner
