Torryburn Stud’s ‘plain bay fellow’, and now established super star, Voyage Bubble added another jewel to his crown at Sha Tin on Sunday winning the Group I The Steward’s Cup.
James McDonald hot footed it to Hong Kong after riding four winners in Sydney on Saturday to partner a horse he’s created an outstanding relationship with and it became the duo’s third Group One win.
After jumping in front, McDonald let his mount cruise into the perfect spot, one off the fence behind the leading pair in a relatively pedestrian affair and took control into the straight to be too strong for Galaxy Patch (Wandjina) with Red Lion (Belardo) third.
It was the third Group One win for Voyage Bubble who won the previous year’s running of the Steward’s Cup, and took the Hong Kong International Mile in December.
"He's superb isn't he," said McDonald.
"He's just bombproof.
"Dare I say, I reckon it's the best he's felt since I've ridden him.
"When he's got a pep in his step he's on song."
He is quite the remarkable story, a fortunate product of the first season fertility issues facing Extreme Choice when Torryburn had to make new plans quickly for mares who weren’t going in foal.
And listen to the Tara Talks Racing podcast with Torryburn’s Mel Copelin.
It should be said that this “plain bay fellow” did blossom, and when offered by Torryburn at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in 2020, actually topped the sale at $380,000 to the bid of his trainer Ricky Yiu.
His record now stands at 21 starts for nine wins, six seconds and three thirds for $HK77,872,475 (approx. $AUD 16mil)
Voyage Bubble is out of the four-time winning Rahy mare Raheights, also dam of Group III winner Diddums, and had not had a foal since 2019, however undoubtedly to the delight of the Torryburn team has produced a filly in 2024 by Home Affairs.
