Sacred Kingdom Back in Top Form

1st May 2008

Champion sprinter Sacred Kingdom (4g Encosta de Lago x Courtroom Sweetie, by Zeditave) returned to the winners list at Sha Tin on Thursday when he scored a comfortable victory in the Gome Sprint HK Group 2 over 1200 metres.

The son of Encosta de Lago gave weight to every rival and coasted home in 1:08.50 to beat Scintillation and Sanziro to give the Aussie breds yet another trifecta in a major Hong Kong sprint.

Prepared throughpout his career by Ricky Yiu, Sacred Kingdom took his overall record to 10 wins and two seconds from 13 starts for $HK19.2 million (approx $2.6 million).

A $200,000 purchase from the draft of Kornong Stud Farm at the 2005 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, Sacred Kingdom is a half-brother to stakes-placed Opter being from the Zeditave mare Courtroom Sweetie, a full sister to Group Two winner Love of Mary.

Now rated amongst the elite turf sprinters of the world, the powerhouse bay was bred by the Calvert family, who offered the half-brother to Sacred Kingdom by popular first season sire Fastnet Rock at the 2008 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

He was knocked down to Gai Waterhouse for $350,000, so at least we will get to see him racing in Australia.