Hong Kong Sprint Redemption for Superstar Lucky Sweynesse (NZ)

Twelve months after being badly blocked and finishing a luckless sixth, superstar sprinter Lucky Sweynesse (NZ) (Sweynesse) set the record straight with a brilliant win in the 2023 edition of the HK$26m Group One Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

Lucky Sweynesse was a $90,000 purchase from the 2020 Ready to Run Sale at Karaka. The exceptional speedster has now had 21 starts for 15 wins, five placings and HK$70.56m in prize-money. That is the equivalent of NZ$14.7m, which is 163 times his purchase price.

If there was any doubting his supremacy among Hong Kong’s sprinters, Sunday’s performance put that to rest.

After enjoying a comfortable run along the rail just behind the speed, there was a brief moment of déjà vu as a gap closed in front of Lucky Sweynesse early in the run home. But jockey Zac Purton was able to move out into clear air on the outside and then let him rip, gaining on Victor The Winner (Toronado) with each powerful stride.

Lucky Sweynesse hit the lead at the 100-metre mark and it was game over, kicking away and scoring by three-quarters of a length from the fast-finishing Lucky With You (Artie Schiller).

"He deserved that,” Purton said. “He's been our best sprinter for the last year, and obviously he was able to atone for what happened in this race last year.

“He had a nice run today. I went for the run inside of James (McDonald on Victor The Winner), but he accelerated, came across and hampered me a little bit. But I was able to come out across his heels and he did the rest. He pulled up in the last 50 metres as well, so he looked after himself. I love him.”

Andrea Atzeni, who rode the runner-up Lucky With You, paid tribute to the winner.

“He finished off quite nicely and he was beaten by a champion,” he said.

The Hong Kong Sprint was the fourth Group One win for the Manfred Man-trained Lucky Sweynesse, who had previously won last season’s Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m), Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) and Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).

With Sunday’s heroics, Lucky Sweynesse became the seventh Karaka graduate to win the Hong Kong Sprint in the last nine years. Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins) won it in 2014 and 2016, followed by Mr Stunning (Exceed And Excel) in 2017 and 2018, Beat The Clock (Hinchinbrook) in 2019 and Sky Field (Deep Field) in 2021.

Vendor	Woburn Farm
Purchaser	J & I Bloodstock (Waikato)
Breeding	Sweynesse – Madonna Mia
Sale	Lot 284, 2020 Ready to Run Sale, $90,000
Bred by	P L Dombroski, Explosive Breeding Ltd & S A Sharrock