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POSTED ON MAY 7, 2008
SACRED KINGDOM IS AN EXCEPTIONAL SPRINTER
SACRED KINGDOM (42) is officially the world's highest rated
sprinter. And he showed why when taking the Group 2 Gome Sprint at Sha Tin.
Sacred Kingdom's jockey settled him in fifth place early
behind the strong early pace and seemed far more concerned with steering away
from traffic problems rather than saving ground or race tactics. It looked clear
he felt the horse could win easily however the race panned out as long as he
simply avoided trouble. And he was right. A gap opened entering the straight,
Sacred Kingdon took it, quickly scooted up on the outside of the field and
accelerated away to win while only being ridden with hands and heels.
You don't often see a horse win a Group 2 sprint so
cheekily and record such a fast time. So I just wonder how fast Sacred Kingdom
could go if he was really pushed.
Sacred Kingdom is a muscular, well proportioned really
classy sort that actually has the physique of a horse that could go beyond short
sprint trips. In fact he did run second to the very smart Good Ba Ba over seven
furlongs in a Group 1 the only time he went beyond six furlongs.
So far Sacred Kingdom has won ten of his twelve starts over
five and six furlongs. One of his losses was an unlucky short head loss to the
high class Absolute Champion where he met heavy traffic problems. The other was
an inexplicably bad fourth place finish which was followed by a lay-off.
If Sacred Kingdom makes the journey to Royal Ascot he's
going to be horribly tough to beat.
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