SIGHT SUCCESS & JUNEAU PARK

26th Dec 2020

Price Bloodstock shook off any Christmas hangovers to land a winning double at Sha Tin for the final meeting of 2020 and turn towards the new year with hope that a new star is emerging.

Trainer John Size was in charge of the double, finishing off with smart gelding Juneau Park in the last race but unveiling a new galloper of untapped potential along the way.

Sight Success had never been beaten in his five trials in Australia and Hong Kong and he was not about to let something as simple as a wide barrier change that when it came to race day.

Heavily-backed as favourite, he didn’t overcome barrier 14 for his first start, he just brushed off the consequences and took his medicine under Joao Moreira, racing four wide and covering a lot of extra ground before just strolling away in the straight to win with ease.

“He’s a very promising horse, very few horses do what he did today,” Moreira said. “I was quite confident that he would win the race. It’s hard to predict where he will get to but there are plenty of ratings points in him, that is for sure.”

Size rarely gets too bullish about his young horses and was keeping a lid on the enthusiasm surrounding the win but admitted he had expected the son of Magnus to make his debut a winning one.

“He looked like he was going to win his first start from when I started to trial him,” Size said. “He’s done the job that he was supposed to do and you can’t ask for any more than that. Drawing the outside is always some concern but he’s had plenty of practice at the trials so we were hoping he could handle it. He’s only had the one start, he’s still immature and inexperienced and we’ll see how he develops as we race him. I don’t want to make any predictions for how far he can go – racing is how you find that out – but normally you find out pretty quickly.”

For Ocean Park gelding Juneau Park, the biggest surprise was his double figure odds as he had been a favourite at all his previous eight starts but a first-up seventh might have turned punters off before Alexis Badel brought him charging between runners to arrive right on the line.

“He was a little disappointing that day but it was first-up for five Months, it was 1200m, which is on the short side for him and there wasn’t much pace on and the leaders dominated,” Size commented. “Today he was fitter and got a much better tempo as well as 1400m and he was able to bring his strength into play. He only just got there so the handicapper should be kind to him and maybe he might be suited by a mile now that he’s getting older. He’s doing a good job.”

It was the third win from 9 starts for Ocean Park, pushing his stake earnings through $2.5 million with the promise of more ahead.