Held on Friday night in the Grand Ballroom of the Rosewood Hotel in Hong Kong, Torryburn Stud’s home bred Champion Voyage Bubble secured two awards at the prestigious Hong Kong Horse of the Year Awards for the 2024/25 racing season.
In a history-making season which saw the Ricky Yiu-trained, Inglis Classic yearling sale topper win the HK$13m Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) at his final start of the season, adding to his previous victories in the HK$13m Group 1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and the HK$13m Group 1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m), connections awarded a HK$10m bonus for Voyage Bubble becoming only the second horse to win the famed Hong Kong Triple Crown.
In a season that netted five wins and two placed efforts from seven starts with earnings of HK$ 61,159,500 (~A$11.8m), Voyage Bubble’s first Group 1 win of the season was the HK$36m Hong Kong Mile (1600m) at the international meeting in December, a race that has since proven an outstanding international form reference with six of the beaten runners proving successful at the elite level in Australia, Japan, Dubai as well as Royal Ascot since the race.
Too classy in the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) when winning by two lengths, Voyage Bubble stepped up to the 2000m of the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup and once again was too good for his rivals, producing an almost four length victory.
Dropping back to the mile at his next start a little over two months later in the Group 1 Champions Mile, Voyage Bubble went down my the narrowest of margins before jumping to the 2400m of the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup where he produced a scintillating effort under regular jockey James McDonald to score by three and a half lengths, and as a result, capture the Triple Crown.
With three wins and two second placed efforts over 1600m during the season, the 6yo son of Deep Field was ultimately award the Champion Mile title, and for his efforts over 2000m and 2400m, he also secured the Champion Stayer title for the 2024/25 racing season.
Consigned via Torryburn Stud’s draft at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, trainer Ricky Yiu fell in love with the son of Deep Field, going to a sales-topping $380,000 to secure him.
“It was love at first sight with him,” Yiu said. “I could tell he was a pure athlete the moment I saw him and he’s just a high-class racehorse. Not many horses can do what he’s done, you seldom see a horse manage to win at 1200m and 2400m in Hong Kong,” stated Yiu after Voyage Bubble’s final win of the season.
Having previously enjoyed success in Hong Kong with Champion Sprinter Hot King Prawn (Denman), another of their Inglis Classic yearling sale graduates, Torryburn Stud’s extensive list of stakes winning graduates is testament to their mantra of #RaisedWithHeart, coupled with the pride and passion displayed by the Cornish family and all the staff who work at the farm.
“We at the farm are delighted to see our home bred Voyage Bubble being crowned Champion Miler and Champion Stayer at the recent Hong Kong awards,” enthused Mel Copelin said
“He epitomizes everything that we strive to do right from the ground up.”
“To have our horses performing at top level internationally is exactly why we do what we do. Obviously, we were hoping to crack the Horse of the Year award but we lined up with a sensational horse in Ka Ying Rising. To have Voyage Bubble in the conversation was incredible in itself.”
“To win the HK Triple Crown was unbelievable and to recognised with another two awards has really topped off a great season for the farm.”
"We'd like to congratulate trainer Ricky Yiu, jockey James McDonald and the Sunshine and Moonlight Syndicate on an oustanding season."
Voyage Bubble is out of the four-time winning Rahy mare Raheights, also the dam of Group 3 winner Diddums, who herself produced this season’s Listed Woodlands Stakes winner Stardom (Zoustar) in the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable with the rising 3yo filly now back at Tulloch Lodge after enjoying a spell at the farm with the team extremely happy with her progress leading into the spring carnival.
Raheights had effectively been retired and was enjoying her paddock life as a nanny to some of the younger stock at the farm before a change of plans saw her covered by Torryburn Stud’s very own multiple Group 1-winning yearling graduate and now Coolmore based stallion Home Affairs, producing a much-loved filly.
Now officially retired once again to live out her days at the farm, her legacy will surely live on with Torryburn still owning members of the family.
“I’m pleased to report we have retained his two half-sisters to Voyage Bubble in Diddums and the Home Affairs x Raheights filly as well as two daughters of Diddums in Stardom and Cross Your Heart,” Copelin said.
