Super Kid Shades Hong Kong Gold Cup Thriller Super Kid edged a three-way photo finish to secure Hong Kong Gold Cup glory for trainer John Moore and jockey Shane Dye late on Sunday afternoon at Sha Tin. A head and nose separated the prolific winner from a resurgent Bullish Luck and Bowman´s Crossing for a victory that makes Super Kid the first horse to win all three legs of the Hong Kong´s Triple Crown ? albeit in different seasons ? since River Verdon´s unique treble in 1993/94. In 2003/04 trainer John Size prepared Super Kid to win the Stewards´ Cup and Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup, both Triple Crown legs, and Dye was aboard the New Zealand-bred entire both times. Reunited in victory today, Dye said Super Kid had retained all the ability of two years ago. 'He still has the same flowing action. He´s really flying and there´s no reason why he can´t go on and achieve more this season,' said Dye, adding that it was the 100th Group One victory of his riding career. 'I rode him in December in the Hong Kong Vase on a harder track and he was a bit short in his action then. But today he felt great and I had a beautiful run,' Dye continued. 'At the half-mile mark I edged him out a little wider to let him stride into the race and when let down in the straight he was able fight off the other two with great courage.' The Midas touch that John Moore has employed in the season´s most important races shows no sign of abating either as he moved well over HK$20m ahead of his nearest rival in stakes earnings. Moore inherited Super Kid from Size during the off-season last year thanks to owner Wong Yuk-kwan´s wish to add some Australian black-type to his CV ahead of a prospective stud career in New Zealand. Super Kid twice ran second in Gr.1 handicaps in Melbourne but was less involved in the Cox Plate and Mackinnon Stakes and then returned to Hong Kong. 'He won well last time in the Gr.3 Centenary Vase from top weight and he had been training even better leading up this race so I told Shane Dye and Mr Wong [Yuk-kwan, owner] that we could enter this race with high confidence,' said Moore. The Audemars Piguet QEII Cup on April 23 and the Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup on May 28 are likely to feature prominently on Super Kid´s agenda over the coming months. Race favourite Russian Pearl failed to figure from off the pace.
