Regiment spreadeagles field in Centenary Sprint Cup comeback

Eagle Regiment defied an almost one-year absence to become the latest in an

elite roll call of back-to-back winners of Hong Kong's Group 1 Centenary Sprint

Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The Sha Tin straight-course specialist is the fifth horse in 15 years to

achieve the feat, joining such luminaries as Silent Witness and Sacred Kingdom.

The five-year-old broke awkwardly from post 13 but was soon traveling powerfully

in the slipstream of the pacesetting Amber Sky, and when jockey Olivier Doleuze

shook the reins at the halfway point, Eagle Regiment grasped the advantage and

powered away for a 1 1/2-length verdict. 

"I'm very happy," said trainer Manfred Man, for whom this was a 300th career

win. "I was confident, given his form in the mornings, that he would have a good

chance, but almost one year off was another problem."

Man was left downhearted last March when the El Moxie gelding was scratched

from the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai after succumbing to lameness, but the

handler was rewarded for his patient approach to clinch the second top-flight

success of his career, and has Dubai on his mind once more.

"I'm very happy and all credit to the staff, Manfred and his assistant

Raymond do a very good job with this horse," said the Frenchman, who had

partnered Eagle Regiment to victory 12 months earlier.

"It's never easy to come back after such a long time. He had a very good

preparation, but even when we trial him it's hard to know how much there is.

Today he showed me what I was expecting. He's a very different horse when you

run him over 1,000 meters straight, and today was the best.

"Each trial I've been increasing his progression and the last trial I pushed

him a little bit to put a little bit inside, but you always doubt when a horse

has been off for so long," Doleuze continued, "but sprinters come to hand very

fast, and when I trialed him last time he showed me he was there."

The jockey's biggest concern going into the race was how the now seven-time

course and distance winner would break from the gate.