Evergreen gelding Surf Dancer defied his long odds when bursting between runners to snare Saturday’s AUD300,000 G3 BTC Sprint (1350m) at Queensland’s Doomben Racecourse. It was the second group win for the six-year-old who has now won more than AUD666,000 since relocating to Australia in 2020.
The former European runner was one of a series of highlights for China Horse Club over an extended weekend that included the game win of Good Karma on Friday at Britain’s Newbury Racecourse and the continued undefeated form of the China Horse Club bred Saudi Crown in the USA.
Adrian Bott co-trainer of Surf Dancer
Co-trainer Adrian Bott was pleasantly surprised by the performance over a distance initially assumed to be just short of optimum for Surf Dancer.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t work out in Rockhampton [in the AUD775,000 The Archer]. Maybe it was the travel up there,” he said.
“We thought this race may be a bit sharp for him. We saw early in the race that they went strong and [jockey] Josh Parr was struggling to hold his position where he was but then in the mid stages [Surf Dancer] was able to get the right runs on the inside and he was strong late.”
The trio of positive results included the continuing success for China Horse Club’s homebreds Good Karma (Britain) and Saudi Crown. The former, also part-owned by China Horse Club, was posting his second win in only three starts and did enough to justify joining the Club’s Royal Ascot team alongside Artorius (G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes) and Just An Hour (Britannia Stakes / Golden Gate Stakes).
“It was a strong win here from Good Karma,” said Matt Houldsworth, China Horse Club’s European Representative, post-race.
“He travelled well after being at bit keen early on, saw out the trip well and hit the line hard. He liked the better ground and I thought it was a particularly stylish ride from Daniel Muscutt.
“Good Karma will come on a lot for the run and all roads now lead to Royal Ascot for the Britannia Handicap on the Thursday where a stiff mile at Ascot should really suit based on today’s display.”
The U.S. based Saudi Crown continued to international wave of success when posting another imposing win at Churchill Downs. The son of Always Dreaming won by almost five lengths when making his at Keeneland last month and stepped up to a USD127,000 Allowance in comfortable fashion.
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