HOT KING PRAWN 旺蝦王
18th November 2018
Price Bloodstock has a proud history with the Hong Kong Sprint and will send out one of the favourites yet again in 2018 after Hot King Prawn kept his picket fence of wins going in the traditional prep race, the G2 Jockey Club Sprint at Sha Tin on Sunday.
The grey has quickly become a cult-like figure in Hong Kong racing as he has ploughed through the grades and piled up 9 wins from 10 starts and he will get his chance at the very peak level of racing, a Group One, on December 9.
The Hong Kong Sprint is a world class race with a long Price Bloodstock connection, a race we won twice with Silent Witness in 2003 and 2004, and also missed by a nose with Entrapment in 2011. In between, Price Bloodstock’s Enthused also started favourite in the race before finishing fourth in 2008.
And Hot King Prawn has the form and the connections to be the favourite when they go to post next month, with Joao Moreira enjoying every moment of his first ride on the gelding on Sunday for John Size.
“It’s such a pleasure to be back riding a horse like this for John,” he said after leading throughout to beat last year’s Hong Kong Sprint winner Mr Stunning. “He was so fast out of the gate and when I asked him to go in the straight I was always confident that he could hold on. Hot King Prawn is a lovely horse and today he gave me the feeling that he’s a star, so I’m really looking forward to what is next.”
Hot King Prawn had control as soon as he found the front and once again a hall mark of his win was how comfortable the four-year-old looked in running.
“He hasn’t had a lot of pressure in the lead in the last two wins and I guess going towards the Group One someone will come up with a plan to stop that, but I think this horse can adapt to what happens in his races. We’ve only seen him lead but I think he would be able to sit behind horses and travel just as well,” Size said. “He’s just continued to improve to meet every new challenge so you couldn’t have asked any more to this point. Nothing bothers him and that attitude is a big help to him in a race and in his training generally.”