While it may have been 31 years since the last Hong Kong Triple Crown winner River Verdon swept to victory, the Torryburn Stud-bred Voyage Bubble created his own slice of history, taking out the third and final leg, the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) for his own clean sweep.
The team at Torryburn Stud were still coming to terms with the achievement on Monday after their home-grown hero had created history at Sha Tin.
“We at the farm were just blown by The Bubble last night. What a wonder horse,” an over-joyed Mel Copelin said.
“He’s the horse you dream about with wins from 1200m to 2400m, certainly a testament to Ricky’s team - he’s obviously a very happy and healthy horse that just loves to race.”
“We’re so blessed to have horses like him come off the farm and it really emphasises our passion and all the hard work we put in at Torryburn to strive to breed the best.”
“We’ve had an exciting week with Stardom (Diddums) winning her first stakes race at Scone and finished off just seven days later with a Triple Crown winner and a Hong Kong hero.”
Having previously won the Group 1 The Steward's Cup (1600m) and the Group 1 The Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), the question that needed to be answered was could the son of Deep Field cope with the step up to 2400m and add the third leg to the first two – the answer was an unequivocal three and a half-length yes!
Voyage Bubble started the race favourite, just ahead of Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) who was coming off a last second in the Group 1 Longines Hong Kong Vase (2400m), the same day Voyage Bubble was a narrowly denied victory in the Gr1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m).
Jumping well under James McDonald, the 6yo gelding settled in fifth position with Moments In Time (Lookin At Lucky) taken to the lead where he ensured a solid tempo.
With about 1200m to run, Zac Purton abord Ensued (Lemon Drop Kid) made a mid-race move from back in the field which then saw Tom Marquand aboard Dubai Honour also start his run. As the pair joined Moments in Time three abreast in the lead, the pace quickened noticeable which was surely going to play into McDonald’s hands.
As the trio rounded the home turn and they started to feel the pinch, McDonald ambled up with ease from behind them before asking Voyage Bubble for an effort where he showed impressive acceleration to pull away from the field with ease to record his fifth Group 1 victory.
Working home along the rail after coming from the tail, the David Hayes trained Rubylot (Rubick) took second, just ahead of this season Hong Kong Derby winner Cap Ferrat (Snitzel), leading home a one-two-three result for the Australian bred runners.
Taking his record to 11 wins and a further 10 placed efforts with HKD 97,472,475 ($AUD 19,231,046) in earnings, it will be interesting to see what the futures holds for Voyage Bubble.
"Dreams come true, since I won the first two legs of the Triple Crown I started dreaming. Now today, dreams have come true – it’s amazing,” Yiu said.
“The closer I looked at the race today, the closer I thought he would have a winning chance – he’s done so well and his preparation was so good. He’s pure athletic. If you look at him, you can tell he’s a high-class racehorse. He’s performed up from a sprint to the maximum distance in Hong Kong – he’s a genius.
“When we first ran him over 1200 and 1400m it was like a game for him. The whole team is thrilled.”
“It was love at first sight with him,” Yiu said. “I could tell he was a pure athlete the moment I saw him and he’s just a high-class racehorse. Not many horses can do what he’s done, you seldom see a horse manage to win at 1200m and 2400m in Hong Kong.”
McDonald was just as effusive in his praise for Voyage Bubble.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of it panning out as well as that – that’s once in a blue moon,” McDonald said. “The stars aligned and with that sort of run, he was always going to be hard to beat – he was going to be hard to beat even without such a good run, but it all worked out.”
“He just switches off and allows himself to get the distance so well and I just want to pay credit to the Yiu stable – they’ve done a remarkable job with this horse.
“It’s a great training effort – a mile to 2400m. They’re absolutely incredible. They’ve got a champion racehorse on their hands and he (Voyage Bubble) deserves all the accolades he gets. It’s awesome. I’m very proud of him.”
Bred by Torryburn Stud, Voyage Bubble was offered at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale where trainer Ricky Yiu went to a sales-topping $380,000 to secure the son of Deep Field.
Out of the four-time winning Rahy mare Raheights, also dam of Group 3 winner Diddums, who herself produced the Listed Woodlands Stakes winner Stardom (Zoustar) a few weeks back, the mare had not had a foal since 2019, however Torryburn decided to give her one last chance and as luck would have it, she produced a filly foal last season by Coolmore’s boom stallion Home Affairs, who the farm had also bred and sold as a yearling.
With the farm known for focusing on prolific families, the success of Voyage Bubble and his close relations looks to continue well into the future.
“I’m pleased to report we have retained his two half-sisters to Voyage Bubble in Diddums and the Home Affairs x Raheights filly as well as two daughters of Diddums in Stardom and Cross Your Heart,” Copelin said.
