Global Harmony has been banned from racing in Hong Kong after refusing to even trot down to the gates ahead of his barrier trial at Happy Valley on Friday morning.
The David Hayes-trained five-year-old was barred from competing for four months after he refused to leave the gates in consecutive races earlier this year, costing punters around HK$170 million.
He received his third and final strike on Friday morning and he will be taken back to Australia.
On leaving the Happy Valley parade ring, Global Harmony took only a few strides onto the Happy Valley turf before digging his heels in and leaning on the rail.
“He’s going back to Australia,” Hayes said. “He started getting too cunning. He was fine at Beas River, but every time we’d take him to Conghua, Sha Tin and now Happy Valley, he just refuses as soon as he gets close to the track.”
After he stood in the gates as a $5 chance under Lyle Hewitson on January 21, Global Harmony again refused to jump under Zac Purton as the $2.2 favourite on February 18.
Jockey Club stewards subsequently outlined the road to redemption, with the galloper required to compete in a minimum of five barrier trials – with at least two from the 1,600m start at Sha Tin – and take part in two jump outs to remain in Hong Kong.
Global Harmony took time to freshen up at Beas River Country Club and completed his first barrier trial without any troubles on April 9, but the son of Shamexpress was back to his old ways on Friday morning under Karis Teetan.
“He just stops and leans on the rail, there’s nothing we can do,” Hayes said. “It’s a tragedy because he’s a genuine upper-class horse, but Hong Kong’s loss will be Australia’s gain.
“It’s a totally different country and hopefully we can get his mind in the right place. We might train him as a stock horse for a while and just reset him. He still might be bad in Australia but that’s our only hope.”
Winless from his first eight starts in Hong Kong, Global Harmony shed his maiden tag under Teetan in November and continued to show his electric turn of foot at Class Three level.
Flashing home from the rear of the field, he recorded a second career win with James McDonald in the saddle on New Year’s Day before declining to take part in his next two starts.
