Ivictory (天下為攻)

4th February 2018

Price Bloodstock’s Ivictory returned from his injury-enforced spell without a hair out of place on Sunday at Sha Tin, taking his record to four wins from five starts despite some erratic behavior from his opponents.

When another runner behaved badly rounding the home turn, there were some anxious moments for Joao Moreira and he had to check severely but John Size-trained Ivictory seemed to simply shrug off the incident and get on with his job of putting up a big margin win.

“In the race, when it was happening, I thought we were going to go down,” Moreira said later. “But when things settled down after a few strides, he’s such a good horse, he just took over the lead straightening for home and went straight past them. I said to John Size that when they make it difficult for you like that and the horse still wins like he did, it proves he is a bloody good horse.”
Ivictory ended his last season with a defeat of Fifty Fifty, now a Group One placegetter, so that pointed positively to expectations for this season but the gelding had his resumption delayed by a leg problem in September and Size was pleased to see him return successfully.

“Ivictory had a problem, yes, but he’s had some time off, he’s sound and healthy again and his career is back under way,” Size said. “When a horse has won four from five that tells you they have a good future and I look forward to what he does as he moves forward.”

Apart from the interference issues before his 3 ½ length win, Size said Ivictory was a little fresh in the run so there is more improvement in him in that way.

“He was well prepared for the race but had not raced for a while and ran on his nerves a bit,” Size said. “He was nervous in the paddock too which you couldn’t really notice because it’s a cold day. If it had been warmer I’m sure he would have sweated up so he will improve with this run but you could not have asked him to do any more than he did for his first race in six months.”