Military Attack blitzes rivals to take HKG3 Premier Plate

24/03/2013

The John Moore-trained Military Attack (133 lbs) kept up his good form to win the HKG3 Premier Plate (Handicap) over 1,800m at Sha Tin Racecourse today, Sunday, 24 March.

Breaking well from the widest gate 13, the five-year-old son of Oratorio was able to take a soft lead with Zac Purton onboard. He gradually increased the tempo approaching the home stretch and accelerated strongly to beat Aomen (123 lbs) by half a length. Let Me Handle It (115 lbs) was a further three-quarters of a length back in third.

Having won the HKG1 Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m) exactly a month ago, Military Attack continued to show his class in a strong field of 13, completing the Premier Plate in a time of 1m49.98s.

Moore was delighted with the classy performance of his stable star and said the Gold Cup hero will now head for the G1 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup to be held on 28 April.

“Carrying the top weight he really won a crack at the QEII Cup. He dictated the pace and stayed on well. He’s a Group One winner and today he ran a good race,” Moore said.

Winning jockey Purton sealed a double for the meeting by taking the Class 3 1600m CUHK Alumni Cup (Handicap) with Why Not but he was unable to stop the domination of 12-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey Douglas Whyte who landed a four-timer with Hypersonic, Good Friends Magic, Sea Dragon and Gurus Dream to extend his lead in the Jockeys’ Championship.