Armada And Floral Pegasus The Dominant Milers Two Group One miles at Sha Tin on Sunday and one conclusion: Armada is the best at the distance in Hong Kong. One race earlier, Floral Pegasus proved that he is the champion four-year-old at the distance with a win of conviction in the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile - but Armada´s performance in the Stewards´ Cup was outstanding. Trained by John Size, winning the first leg of the Triple Crown for the fourth time in six years, Armada helped erase memories of his marginal defeat in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile last month when The Duke prevailed. This time, in perhaps the strongest domestic race ever staged locally, the five-year-old Armada, 11/10 favourite, raced close to the pace as usual and with matchless acceleration he put matters to bed with over a furlong to go. The margin of victory was a snug length and a quarter from the strong finishing Hello Pretty with Viva Pataca half a length further back in third. 'There were no real excuses when he was beaten in the Mile last time, but he probably just lacked the Group One experience. He had never been tested in a race as strong as that and it seemed to faze him for a moment before he dug in and ran on so strongly,' said winning rider Douglas Whyte. 'But today he travelled well and picked up when I asked him to. We had it won a long way out.' The next leg of the Triple Crown, the Hong Kong Gold Cup, is over 2000m ?uncharted territory for Armada. Whyte believes Armada has the temperament to handle the extra two furlongs, an issue about which Size appeared less sure. Similar distance queries may apply to Floral Pegasus when he bids for the ten-furlong Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby on March 18 but trainer Tony Cruz feels it is within his range. 'He has beaten a very good field by a length and a quarter and nobody could say he was stopping at the finish. We will know more when he runs in the Derby Trial in a month over the extra 200 metres,' he said. Hong Kong racing has strengthened its partnership with Mercedes-Benz by extending its sponsorship of the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby for another three years. The agreement will incorporate the three races set aside for the Classic generation in Hong Kong: the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile, the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby Trial and the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby itself.
