Hong Kong's Green Birdie arrives safely in Japan, readies bid for Centaur Stakes (G2) with eye to Sprinters (G1)

Green Birdie

Green Birdie, Hong Kong's contender for the Sept. 12 Centaur Stakes (G2) arrived safely at Japan's Narita International Airport on Thursday, Sept. 2 and was transported safely to quarantine.

The 7-year-old, New Zealand-bred gelding landed at Narita at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday and arrived later that morning at 9:50 at the JRA Horseracing School Quarantine Center in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. The entire trip from the Sha Tin Racecourse training facilities in Hong Kong lasted some 11 hours.

Assistant trainer Dale Bussey said the trip had gone well. "There is no great difference in his condition between now and before the trip and no problems for the time being," Bussey said. "The trainer has not given me any instructions out of the ordinary. We plan to do some fast work next Tuesday and other than that only light gallops."

Green Birdie, a son of Catbird, out of the Last Tycoon mare Mrs Squillionaire, is trained by Caspar Fownes and owned by Roger Ka Chun Li. Green Birdie has been raced four times this year and is coming off a surprise, record-setting victory over the race favorite, Singapore's Rocket Man, in the KrisFlyer International Sprint at Kranji in Singapore earlier this year. Mark Du Plessis was riding Green Birdie for the first time. Their winning run in Singapore was executed in 1 minute, 9.62 seconds. Green Birdie currently is rated at 118 and has a career record of 6 wins in 30 races. He placed fourth in last year's Hong Kong Sprint, second in the 2008 version.

The Centaur Stakes, the fifth leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, will be run at the right-handed Hanshin Racecourse. The total purse is nearly 123 million yen, with 58 million yen going to the winner. Three-year-olds carry 55 kg, older horses 57 kg, with a 2-kg allowance extended to fillies and mares and 3-year-olds born in the Southern Hemisphere. A full gate comprises 16 runners.

Following the Centaur Stakes, plans are to run Green Birdie in the Global Sprint Challenge sixth leg Sprinters Stakes (G1) on Oct. 3. Both races are over turf at a distance of 1,200 meters.

Green Birdie has not run in any of the previous races of the four-nation, eight-race Global Sprint Challenge, which culminates in the Hong Kong Sprint this year on Dec. 12.