In a season when nothing seemed settled, Hong Kong's leading rider took matters into his own hands in the BMW Hong Kong Derby March 21 at Sha Tin Racecourse.
Sky Darci, long considered among the most promising of this year's 4-year-olds, with a perfectly timed ride by Hong Kong's "Magic Man," Joao Moreira, scored by a desperate head over Russian Emperor and Karis Teetan in the race held dearest by the local owners and trainers.
After upsets ruled in the prep races, the Derby was so wide open that Russian Emperor went to the post favorite at odds just short of 5-1. Sky Darci, Excellent Proposal, and Tourbillon Diamond also were dispatched at single-digit odds.
Sky Darci arguably had been unlucky in finishing up the track in the first two legs of the Four-Year-Old Classic series so Moreira, who won three races on the day and passed the 100-victory mark for the season, essentially took the Derby under his personal care and produced yet another magic outcome.
As Healthy Happy, a coast-to-coast winner of the second leg of the Derby series, spurted out to a big lead, Sky Darci took station along the rail and well back. He moved up through the second turn, found nothing but daylight in front of him, and surged to the front with 200 meters left in the 2,000-meter (about 1 1/4-mile) test.
With 100 meters to go, it was clear the Darci Brahma gelding found only fumes in the tank while Russian Emperor's Classic European form was beginning to tell. The gap narrowing with each stride, Sky Darci found the finish with a head to spare over Russian Emperor. Panfield, a Lookin At Lucky colt, was third with Excellent Proposal fourth.
The final time was 2:01.32 on good-rated turf.
"It was such a smooth run," Moreira said. "He jumped out well and immediately I just grabbed hold of him and tried to put him to sleep. I had to angle my way out but once I got into the straight, I had taken the lead a little bit too early but I knew I was on the best horse in the race and I had a lot of confidence in the horse."
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Winning trainer Caspar Fownes wasn't feeling the same level of confidence as they thundered down the long Sha Tin stretch.
"It was the longest 200 meters I've ever seen in a race, that's for sure," said Fownes, whose only previous Derby win came 11 years earlier with Super Satin. "It felt like an eternity there and I'm glad he stuck his neck out and got the winning result.
"All in all, it's a magic day—massive satisfaction. This horse with the owners (the Kwan family), it's magic."
Fownes said he will wait to see how Sky Darci exits the race before deciding his future. His desperate search for the finish in the Derby, however, might indicate 2,000-meter races won't be his forte going forward.
"He's showing us his versatility and now it depends on how I want to train him," Fownes said. "Maybe we'll bring him back to 1,400 meters (about seven furlongs) (or) mile races now. We'll just see how he is."
Sky Darci, brought to Hong Kong as a private purchase, became a hot property by reeling off three straight wins at the front end of the 2020-21 season. He then finished second in the Chinese Club Challenge Cup (G3) against a few of Hong Kong's established older horses, raising expectations even higher. But the Four-Year-Old Classic series caught the gelding up short as he finished sixth in the Hong Kong Classic Mile and seventh, with traffic excuses, in the 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8-mile) Hong Kong Classic Cup.
The horses he outlasted in the Derby are no slouches. Russian Emperor is a son of Galileo from the champion Australian mare Atlantic Jewel, won the Hampton Court Stakes (G3) at the 2020 Royal Ascot meeting, and finished seventh in the Investec Derby (G1). Panfield was a triple group 1 winner in Chile before crossing the Pacific.
