Japanese Oaks winner works well at Sha Tin
Jockey Vincent Ho had his first feel of 2019 Japanese Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Loves Only You (Deep Impact) on Monday as he partnered the mare through her morning canter on the Sha Tin dirt ahead of Sunday’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Gr 1, 2000m).
Arriving in Hong Kong off the back of a last-start third to Mishriff (Make Believe) in the Dubai Sheema Classic (Gr 1, 2410m) at Meydan, the daughter of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) stepped out of quarantine for her third outing but for the first time with jockey Vincent Ho in the plate, pleasing the jockey as she clocked 1:03.70 seconds for her 800 metre canter.
“It went very well, it was just a very relaxed canter for her and I think she has settled in very well, she looks around and she’s very happy,” Ho said.
“Once she gets on the track she knows her job – she’s very concentrated in her work and then she was very quiet when we backed down the track,” he added.
A five-time winner from 12 starts including once at Group 1 level, the five-year-old’s most recent win came in the Kyoto Kinen (Gr 2, 2200m) at Hanshin.
“You can tell she knows what to do, when she’s on the track she is very focused,” Ho said.
