Mr Brightside last but all not lost in HK mission

Mr Brightside fails in Hong Kong bid but nothing too concerning in horse’s welfare.

The result was far from the hopes and dreams in the lead-up but the Lindsay Park training trio – Ben, Will and JD Hayes – are not dejected after Mr Brightside finished at the tail of the field in the Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin.

Mr Brightside started at $5.40 for the 1600-metres feature and if Ben had earned a dollar this for every time he had been asked about one of Australia’s favourite gallopers, he would have a reasonable kitty for beer money to help ease the result.

“The stable is clearly disappointed,” Ben said.

“He just looked to get a bit fierce behind them,” JD added.

“Then when he wasn’t going to be running into contention, Craig (Williams) looked after him a bit.

“That did extenuate the margin but the horse will be fine.”

“He seemed fine after the race,” Ben said.

“He’ll probably be vetted and we will see how he is in the morning but it doesn’t look to be anything significant or concerning.”

“It was well worth the experience though.”

In a different Australian connection, John Size and Hugh Bowman combined to take the Mile in a blowout result with Red Lion.

Starting at $90, Red Lion survived a protest hearing to beat $1.40 favourite Voyage Bubble.