Hayes-trained son of Written Tycoon breaks Golden Sixty's 1400 metre record at Sha Tin
Chad Schofield celebrated his 200th Hong Kong victory in perfect fashion as the Woodside Park Stud-bred Fantastic Treasure (Written Tycoon) confirmed his rare quality by bettering Golden Sixty's (Medaglia d'Oro) Class 2 1400 metre record at Sha Tin with a stunning win in the Crystal Handicap at Sha Tin on Sunday (1400m).
Competing at Class 2 level for the first time, the David Hayes-trained three-year-old downed a bevy of seasoned gallopers, weaving his way through tiring opposition to retain an unblemished record with a fifth successive win and covering the 1400 metre trip in 1:20.28 – bettering Golden Sixty's class record mark of 1:20.29, set in October 2019.
Schofield declared the Written Tycoon (Iglesia) gelding the most exciting galloper he has ridden after spectacularly sealing a card which also featured three other record-breaking performances, including Valiant Dream's (Magnus) effort to lower Aethero's (Sebring) 1000 metre course record.
"Yes, he's the most exciting (horse I've ridden). He's just such an impressive horse, he just oozes quality, no matter what you do," Schofield said.
"I've ridden him in all of his starts and in each one of them, he's progressively improved – mentally and physically. Today, I fired him out of the gates. I knew I was going to get caught wide, so I asked him to come back and he came back. Then I picked him up again to take a position and he did that for me.
"He's just bomb-proof to ride because he does whatever you want him to do."
Schofield said Fantastic Treasure's competitiveness and composure are attributes which allowed the PPG to spear through tight gaps late in the race.
"I wasn't (worried) because he was coming through that quickly, I only needed half a gap and he was going to burst through. I was worried that one tiring horse might wobble in his way but he came through it quickly, it was like a knife through butter," he said.
"He's quality – in this race today, you had Beauty Smile, who's a Class 1 winner. You had Not Usual Talent, who had raced behind Beauty Generation. This young three-year-old has beaten them at his first go at Class 2, on his first prep and broken Golden Sixty's record. It's very exciting."
Hayes will now spell Fantastic Treasure in preparation for next season's Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Classic Series.
"He's very versatile, he's going to be better at a mile," Hayes said. "Congratulations to Chad, there was a bit of pressure there and it was his 200th winner. He took a couple of chances that maybe he didn't need to, but he took the shortcut and won, so all credit to him."
Sold for $45,000 to Baystone Farm at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, Fantastic Treasure is one of four winners out of the twice raced Redoute's Choice (Danehill) mare Brmbling. His second dam is New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Bramble Rose (Shinko King) who has produced six winners headed by Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed gelding Tangled (Snitzel) as well as Listed winner Sebrose (Sebring).
