Hong Kong darkhorse Ultra Fantasy captures Sprinters Stakes

Hong Kong managed to take the G1 Sprinters Stakes winner’s share out of Japan for the first time in four years with a photo-finish victory Sunday at Nakayama Racecourse. It was not, however, Hong Kong’s Green Birdie, the race favorite, that took the honors, but race tenth choice Ultra Fantasy. The 8-year-old gelding dominated the race to beat Dasher Go Go to the line by a nose and capped a stupendous long weekend for trainer Poon Fai Yiu. Yiu had just jetted in from Hong Kong after seeing his other champion sprinter Sacred Kingdom bag the HK G3 Sha Tin Sprint Trophy on Friday.

The photo finish that put Ultra Fantasy in the winner’s spot was decided within 7 minutes and was met with a joyous embrace by the winning jockey Hoi Wing Lai and trainer Yiu. Things proved less joyous for trainer Takayuki Yasuda as a 20-minute-long inquiry involving his Dasher Go Go and San Carlo (trained by Yokichi Okubo) ended in Dasher Go Go being demoted to fourth place. Coming in to the stretch with San Carlo on his inside on the rail Dasher Go Go moved sharply in to take advantage of a hole, a move by rider Yuga Kawada, 24, that forced San Carlo to lose momentum. The decision was met by groans from the crowd and promoted this year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Kinshasa no Kiseki, the race third choice, to second place, San Carlo to third. Race second pick One Carat failed to live up to expectations, as she just made the board in fifth place.

The 16 entrants in the 44th running of the Sprinters Stakes broke from the gate on schedule at 3:40 p.m. with Premium Box and Kinshasa no Kiseki a bit slow out. Lai pushed Ultra Fantasy hard as they sped to the front, where they momentarily held a 2-length lead before being overtaken by Laurel Guerreiro. Regaining the lead into the stretch and increasing it once again to 2 lengths, Ultra Fantasy was able to hold his ground to the end despite a sharp acceleration by Dasher Go Go in the final 70 meters. Ultra Fantasy covered the 1,200 meters of firm turf in a time of 1:07.4 and gave Hong Kong its second win of the Sprinters Stakes following the victory by Silent Witness in 2005.

Ultra Fantasy had failed to win popularity among Japan’s race fans going into the Sprinters Stakes. His arrival in Japan was followed by a drop in weight of 18 kg and rain was said to be playing havoc with his training. His connections nonetheless had maintained that he had the staying power to win if their prayers for an inside draw were met. Ultra Fantasy drew the No. 7 slot, which indeed proved to be a lucky one.

The win of the Sprinters Stakes gave Ultra Fantasy the second graded win of his 48-start career, his first G1 victory ever. The 8-year-old Australia-bred son of Encosta de Lago had not raced since May and was coming off a crushing 14th-place finish in the Sha Tin Vase. He had, however, beaten Green Birdie earlier that month in the G2 Sprint Cup, which earned him his first win of a graded race.

Sprinters favorite Green Birdie was unable, despite an advantageous No. 6 slot, to gain a forward position early in the race. Ridden by Mark Du Plessis, Green Birdie failed to get a clear run in the stretch and finished in seventh place a good length off the winner.

Ultra Fantasy is the sole racehorse currently owned by Tai Fai Lam, a member of the Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. The win of the Sprinters Stakes, worth 95 million yen, improved Ultra Fantasy’s career record to 9 for 48.

The winning No. 7 paid 2,930 yen on a 100-yen wager to win. The winning exacta 7-14 returned 22,400 yen, the winning trifecta 7-14-3 paid 358,410 yen on 100 yen down.