Resilience has defined almost every aspect of Hong Kong life for decades – and never so than during the pandemic.
This city’s amazing ‘can-do’ spirit continues to shine despite the seemingly relentless challenges posed by the virus and Hong Kong’s racing community is crammed with shining examples of determination in the face of adversity.
Among many others, Matthew Chadwick has excelled in testing circumstances with an outstanding season. With six meetings before the end of the season, Matthew has 48 winners so far, marking a return to the form which saw him ride 43, 48, 43, 44, 57 and 38 winners in successive seasons from 2008/09 to 2013/14.
Injury unfortunately intervened in subsequent campaigns, limiting his effectiveness, but there is no question now that Matthew is back to his best and currently leads the Tony Cruz Award for the best-performed home-grown jockey from Vincent Ho (45 wins) and Derek Leung (43).
Given his current strike rate, Matthew could yet threaten his previous best haul of 57 wins in a season as he bids to hold off Vincent, who has won the past three Tony Cruz Awards and is also bearing down on a half century of wins.
With five winners across the past four meetings, Derek has already surpassed his previous best haul of 39 victories in a season as our home-grown riders continue to impact strongly on the competition.
The current top 10 in the jockeys’ championship is evenly split between expatriate jockeys and locally-produced riders with Zac Purton (129), Joao Moreira (127) and Karis Teetan (70) commanding the top-three slots ahead of Matthew, Vincent, Alexis Badel (45) and Derek.
Blake Shinn, who also has enjoyed his most successful Hong Kong season with 37 victories, is next ahead of Matthew Poon (31) and Jerry Chau (29).
The familiar championship battle between Zac and Joao remains incredibly tight and the outcome will be decided over the next three weeks by form, opportunities and the most elusive commodity of all – good luck.
The tussle between these two great arch-rivals will continue at Happy Valley on Tuesday night when the Class 3 Cleverly Handicap is the final event of our eight-race race meeting at and it will be a true test of speed with a number of fast horses lining up over 1000 metres. Super Axiom and Gorgeous Vitality are both up in grade after putting together back-to-back wins in Class 4. Super Axiom has found his form over the straight course at Sha Tin, while Gorgeous Vitality has raised his game with authoritative wins at Happy Valley.
Super Axiom will use his high speed to make the running with Dylan Mo and the race will be run at a strong tempo with pace pressure from Harmony N Blessed and Wine And Wine.
The in-form Gorgeous Vitality, who will be ridden again by Zac Purton, rises in Class but drops from 133lb to 126lb and, from barrier six, should be midfield in running. I make him a win and place chance.
Party Warrior will also do his running from midfield and will benefit from a nice swing in the weights with Alfred Chan picking up the ride. He is proven at Happy Valley and is a place chance.
Super Axiom is in the best form of his career and gets in with a light weight. He is a place chance along with Special M, who has drawn a good gate on the C track for Joao Moreira and has a solid record over the course and distance.
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