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Silent Witness wins 17th straight race

From a Hong Kong Jockey Club press release, for About.com

Silent Witness record win

Silent Witness is now undefeated in 17 starts, breaking the record set by Citation and Cigar.

Hong Kong Jockey Club
Apr 25 2005
In a class of his own once again, Silent Witness eased to a 17th consecutive win in the Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (HK Gr.2) at Sha Tin Sunday. Tackling 1400m (7 furlongs) for the very first time, the world's top ranked turf sprinter made light work of defeating quality opposition by a length and three quarters. But ignore the margin; it could easily have been three or four lengths.

Silent Witness latest conquest takes him beyond the record established by his European ancestor, Ribot, and the American champions, Cigar and Citation. He is also undefeated lifetime.

Boisterously supported by a crowd of 50,000, the champ broke best from the inside gate and always maintained a length lead down the backstretch, racing relaxed and with his ears pricked.

"He was just cruising and turning for home I was very, very confident. I didn't get to the bottom of him in the straight. He just did it very easily," said his jockey Felix Coetzee.

As has long been the plan, Silent Witness will next tackle the Champions Mile (HK Gr.1), the first leg of the Asian Mile Challenge on May 14. The second leg of that series is the Yasuda Kinen (Gr.1) in Tokyo on June 5.

There is also the tantalising prospect of a clash with Ghostzapper, the world's top ranked horse and last year's Breeders' Cup Classic champion.

"We have yet to meet with the American representatives so we don't know what distance it would be at or surface, whether it's turf of dirt. If it's turf we'll beat him but it was on dirt we could run that, too. But let's wait and see as nothing has been decided," said owner Archie da Silva.

"The next race is the Champions Mile and if we win that we will go for the Yasuda Kinen so we have enough to focus on for now," he added.

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