{"id":1077695,"date":"2026-07-09T04:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T04:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1077695\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T04:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T04:34:22","slug":"patience-the-priority-as-lucky-sweynesse-recovers-from-leg-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1077695\/","title":{"rendered":"Patience the priority as Lucky Sweynesse recovers from leg Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lucky Sweynesse faces an indefinite spell on the sidelines, with connections ruling out any comeback timetable as the champion sprinter rehabilitates from suspensory ligament injuries to both front legs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Manfred Man-trained seven-year-old, who will turn eight next season, was found to be lame in the right front leg the day after finishing 11th behind My Wish in the G1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin on April 26, and was subsequently diagnosed with what is listed on the Hong Kong Jockey Club\u2019s veterinary record as \u201cboth fore suspensory ligament injuries\u201d \u2013 a setback that forced his withdrawal from a planned tilt at Japan\u2019s G1 Yasuda Kinen and put his career back on pause.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking exclusively to Idol Horse, co-owner Mr. Cheng Yu Tung said the stable\u2019s sole focus is the horse\u2019s health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe horse is doing reasonably well at the moment,\u201d Cheng said. \u201cHe has been under the round-the-clock, meticulous care of the entire stable staff and veterinary team, and his recovery progress is ideal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have decided to let him completely rest and recuperate before we even consider a gradual, step-by-step reintroduction to active training. Our primary goal begins and ends with the horse\u2019s health, so there are absolutely no immediate racing plans or comeback timetables.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Official Jockey Club trackwork logs show Lucky Sweynesse has trotted just once since the Champions Mile \u2013 two days after the race \u2013 and has not galloped at all, with his rehabilitation instead confined to regular swimming sessions at Sha Tin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The injury cut short a season that had promised a brilliant mid-career resurgence. Lucky Sweynesse opened his 2025\/26 campaign with an unexpected second to sprint star Ka Ying Rising in the HKSAR Chief Executive\u2019s Cup, and while an ambitious raid on Japan\u2019s G1 Sprinters Stakes yielded no joy, he proved his versatility at a mile with a magnificent second to Triple Crown champion Romantic Warrior in the G1 Stewards\u2019 Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think I\u2019ve won already,\u201d a delighted Derek Leung said after that effort.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Lucky-Sweynesse-G2-Chairmans-26-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lucky Sweynesse claims the G2 Chairman's Trophy at Sha Tin\" class=\"wp-image-40228\"  \/>LUCKY SWEYNESSE, DEREK LEUNG; MY WISH, HUGH BOWMAN \/ G2 Chairman\u2019s Trophy \/\/ Sha Tin \/\/\/ 2026 \/\/\/\/ Photo by HKJC<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mile experiment then delivered a breakthrough when Lucky Sweynesse held off My Wish, the previous season\u2019s Hong Kong Derby runner-up, to win the G2 Chairman\u2019s Trophy \u2013 his first group victory in two years \u2013 reigniting elite-level aspirations and prompting an entry for the Yasuda Kinen, a race described as a lifelong dream for the owner\u2019s family. Instead, a below-par run in the Champions Mile brought the fairytale script to a halt, with the suspensory diagnosis providing the explanation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The setback is the latest entry in a lengthy veterinary file. Lucky Sweynesse was found with substantial blood in the trachea after racing in December 2023, was lame in the right front leg after racing in January 2024, and underwent left fore fetlock surgery following an injury sustained in April 2024 \u2013 a problem that sidelined him for a full year. He was again lame in the right front leg after his return in April 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of this has dimmed his standing though. Lucky Sweynesse swept all three legs of the Hong Kong Speed Series in his spectacular 2022\/23 campaign, then captured the G1 Hong Kong Sprint the following season to complete the set of Hong Kong\u2019s top-level sprints. \u220e<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781173573_418_John-Size-at-Meydan-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"John Size at Meydan\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-link-subtitle\">Michael Cox<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-link-title\">Tap, Tap, Tap: John Size, 25 Years And Still Intrigued By Horses<\/p>\n<p>          <a href=\"https:\/\/idolhorse.com\/horse-racing-news\/hong-kong\/tap-tap-tap-john-size-25-years-and-still-intrigued-by-horses\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782713901_186_Sumii-lead-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Sumii lead\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-link-subtitle\">Michael Cox<\/p>\n<p class=\"feature-link-title\">Katsuhiko Sumii: The Trainer Who Walked Away<\/p>\n<p>          <a href=\"https:\/\/idolhorse.com\/horse-racing-news\/japan\/katsuhiko-sumii-the-trainer-who-walked-away\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucky Sweynesse faces an indefinite spell on the sidelines, with connections ruling out any comeback timetable as the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1077696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4107],"tags":[147680,288,295199,295200,1071,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1077695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-derek-leung","tag-horse-racing","tag-lucky-sweynesse","tag-manfred-man","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116888161148280684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1077696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}