Caravaggio's First Hong Kong Starter a Winner

The first Hong Kong starter for Coolmore's successful young stallion Caravaggio, Circuit Nine (Ire) closed off strongly down the center of the Sha Tin 1000-meter straight course to cause a 7-1 upset in Sunday's Argonaut Plate for griffins, 2- and 3-year-olds that are unraced prior to their import.

Off as the third choice on debut, Circuit Nine was slowly into stride from gate three and raced in a detached last early as the hot $1.30 (3-10) favorite Glory Bo Bo (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}) was eased down onto the stands' side rail to make the running. Pulled out widest with a quarter-mile to race, Circuit Nine–trained by Tony Cruz–still had some work to do with time ticking away, but Glory Bo Bo began to shorten stride and the Irish-bred raced right past en route to a 1 3/4-length tally (video).

Bred by Charlie Brooks, Circuit Nine was offered as a foal by The Castlebridge Consignment at Tattersalls December in 2019  and was hammered down to Yeomanstown Stud for 155,000gns. Bought back when bidding stalled out at 130,000gns at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2020, the gray was purchased by SackvilleDonald for 240,000gns at last year's Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up (under-tack preview).

Circuit Nine is a half-brother to the Hugo Palmer-trained Wall of Fire (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), second in the 2017 G3 Geoffrey Freer S. and runner-up later that season in the G2 Herbert Power S. at Caulfield before finishing unplaced behind Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) in the G1 Melbourne Cup. Circuit Nine's second dam is G2 Cherry Hinton S. heroine Jewel In the Sand (Ire) (Bluebird).

Caravaggio, winner during his racing days of the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. at two and the G1 Commonwealth Cup the following season, is now the sire of 41 individual winners from his first crop. That number includes G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Tenebrism, G2 Debutante S. victress and G1 Moyglare Stud S. runner-up Agartha (Ire) and listed winners Dizzy Bizu (Ire) and 'TDN Rising Star' Her World (Ire). The son of Scat Daddy is standing his second American season at Ashford Stud for $35,000.

Circuit Nine! 😍

All class in the opener at Sha Tin. @mattLchadwixk | #HKracing pic.twitter.com/AJKRW1rRJ9

— HKJC Racing (@HKJC_Racing) May 1, 2022