Voyage Bubble ramped up preparations for the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) at Tokyo Racecourse on 2 June with a soft trial win over 1000m at Sha Tin on Thursday morning (16 May), pleasing trainer Ricky Yiu.
Pitted against eight largely inexperienced rivals on the course proper, Voyage Bubble ambled through the early stages of the trial before responding to jockey Zac Purton’s sedate urging to hold a one-and-a half length margin over Circuit Victory on the line.
Clocking 58.31s, Voyage Bubble was unextended ahead of his flight to Japan on 21 May, when he will travel with Danny Shum’s Romantic Warrior and the middle-distance champion’s galloping companion Romantic Charm.
“The trial was good. Forget about the field in the trial – he was only against two and three-year-olds – but we do our own thing,” Yiu said.
“He jumped well. Zac was saying the horse was waiting for the other horses, so he had to give him a reminder and he gradually built up and hit the line strong and Zac said he took some time to pull up after the trial – he wanted to keep going.
“The feedback was all positive.”
