Divine Night at Hong Kong Champion Awards
7 July 2014
Karaka graduate Divine Ten (Not a Single Doubt) was named the Most Improved Horse at Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Champion Awards on Friday night.
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Divine Ten - Hong Kong's Most Improved Horse. |
Divine Ten is the ninth Karaka graduate in the last ten years to win the Most Improved Horse, the only horse that prevented Karaka sweeping the last ten awards was kiwi galloper Armada (NZ) (Towkay).
Sunday was the last meeting of the 2013/14 season in Hong Kong and Divine Ten had already secured the title of Most Improved Horse with five wins from seven starts for trainer Me Tsui.
The most notable win of the season for the son of Not a Single Doubt came in the HK-3 The Bauhinia Sprint Trophy, winning in a quick time of 56.27 seconds over 1000m for owner Wong Kwong Miu.
A 56 rating point improvement provided Divine Ten with the award. His closest rival was fellow Karaka graduate Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins), who improved 42 rating points to finish runner-up, also with five wins this season.
The Karaka pair are both exciting up-and-coming sprinters in Hong Kong and claimed the quinella in the HK-3 Sha Tin Vase (1200m), with Aerovelocity narrowly getting the better of Divine Ten that day.
Divine Ten was purchased by Willie Leung’s Magus Equine for $185,000 at the 2011 Karaka Select Sale from Mark and Shelley Treweek’s Lyndhurst Farm and was in his first season of racing.
Among the Karaka alumni that have won the Most Improve Horse award is dual Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon (NZ) (Pins), this year’s Group 1 Hong Kong Miler victor Glorious Days (Hussonet) and Group 1 Champions Mile winner Sight Winner (NZ) (Faltaat).
While both Divine Ten and Aerovelocity won stakes races in Hong Kong’s competitive racing scene this season, the star of the show for Karaka was Glorious Days as he triumphed in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile, the fourth successive year a Karaka graduate has won Hong Kong’s best mile race.
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