Cup Flop Takes Gloss Off Big Day

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday December 15, 2008

John Schell in Hong Kong

WHAT threatened to be one of the best days of champion jockey Darren Beadman's career turned into disaster at Sha Tin yesterday when hot favourite Viva Pataca was beaten out of a place in the $HK20 million ($3.93m) Hong Kong Cup.

Beadman was shooting for a big-race treble on Viva Pataca for Australian trainer John Moore, having earlier won on stablemates Inspiration in the $HK12m Hong Kong Sprint and Craig's Dragon (Paris Handicap).

Viva Pataca was hugely popular with local punters when starting at $1.30 on the Hong Kong tote but it failed to get any clear running until late in the straight and finished hard for a luckless fourth.

The cup was won by the Mike De Kock-trained Eagle Mountain, which is owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and was ridden by South African Kevin Shea.

Eagle Mountain was ridden to perfection by Shea, who had Viva Pataca behind him throughout, and he stole a winning march on straightening when realising Beadman and Viva Pataca were in trouble with a wall of runners in front of him.

Eagle Mountain, which was coming off a second in the Breeders' Cup Turf in the US, proved too good for Balius, which was a game second, leaving British runner Linngari to finish third.

Despite the torrid tale to be told about Viva Pataca, Beadman and Moore still enjoyed a big day out.

In the Hong Kong Mile, Beadman managed to get the Moore-trained outsider Able One into second place behind Good Ba Ba, which won the race for the second year running.

Beadman's only disappointment in the feature events was a ninth on the Danny O'Brien-trained Victorian Douro Valley, which contested the Hong Kong Vase.

The group 1 winner failed to run on in the straight after enjoying a soft run up near the lead in a slowly run race.

The Australian contingent proved a strong force at the rich international meeting from the outset, with former Sydney trainer John Size securing a double with Pocket Money and Brilliant Chapter.

The French-trained Doctor Dino successfully defended last year's victory when it arrived in the nick of time to win the $HK14m Hong Kong Vase.

Doctor Dino got up in the last stride to defeat last year's Melbourne Cup runner-up, the Luca Cumani-trained Purple Moon.

"Another second in a big race," Cumani lamented, having also prepared Bauer to finish second in this year's Melbourne Cup.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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