Hong Kong racing is renowned as a melting pot of styles and backgrounds, whether it relates to horses, trainers or jockeys and on Wednesday night at Happy Valley, Money Catcher’s victory in the G3 January Cup provided another example of how uniquely international our sport is.
Ridden by Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa, who is also a three-time British champion flat jockey and prepared by home-grown trainer Frankie Lor, who is currently the reigning Hong Kong champion, Money Catcher was imported from New Zealand as a Four-Year-Old Classic Series hopeful.
With third placings to California Spangle in the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and Romantic Warrior in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m), Money Catcher was probably not given the credit he deserved for those results at the time behind two horses who are now globally viewed as outstanding.
Silvestre, who has ridden with success in previous Hong Kong stints, seems to have found the key to Money Catcher with his three rides so far yielding two wins – both at Group 3 level – and a fine G1 third behind Romantic Warrior in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) last month. Since arriving as a 78-rater, Money Catcher has risen to 113 in the handicaps and has earned more than HK$15 million in stakes money.
Frankie’s persistence with the gelding is admirable and it no coincidence that he is again leading the Hong Kong trainers’ championship, but Silvestre’s strength – and his ability to ride at the bottom of the handicaps – makes him a valuable asset in Hong Kong, where our jockey and trainer rosters feature world-class home-grown talents along those from England, France, Brazil, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Of Silvestre’s 29 wins so far – a tally which leaves him third in the Hong Kong jockeys’ championship behind Zac Purton (74) and Vincent Ho (38) – all but one has come with home-grown trainers. Silvestre’s mid-week quartet included two for Manfred Man, making it eight wins in tandem from only 24 rides for Manfred.
His other wins have come in partnership with Pierre Ng (five), Frankie (four), Michael Chang (three), Tony Cruz (two), Dennis Yip (two), Francis Lui (two), Ricky Yiu (two) and John Size (one).
While Frankie continues serenely along with 29 wins to date, to lead Tony (25), John (24), Francis (24) and Danny Shum (21), Manfred continues to fire with a Wednesday double and the emergence of possible Four-Year-Old Classic Series contender in Encountered, who has now risen to 81 in the handicaps on the basis of his win under Silvestre.
With so much to play for, the Yuen Long Handicap at Sha Tin on Sunday is carded as Race 10 at 5:45pm, for Class 2 horses rated 95-75 with prizemoney of HK$2,640,000. It draws together a highly competitive field, including Four-Year-Old Classic Series aspirants Galaxy Witness, A Pal, Tuchel and Can’t Go Wong, who will all be striving for victory to enhance their Classic prospects.
Our various bonus schemes designed to encourage owners to race quality horses have been very popular in previous weeks and in this race Circuit Stellar, Mr Ascendency, Galaxy Witness and Can’t Go Wong are all eligible to reward their owners with an additional $1million if they are victorious.
While the field doesn’t contain a notable leader, the pace should still be good. Circuit Stellar has drawn a wide gate but will go forward and while Beauty Glory has not raced on the lead recently from a middle gate for Angus Chung, he may well contest the lead. Winner Method and King Land have inside gates and should be on speed and Beauty Live also likely to race handy from gate ten.
Tuchel is one of the horses heading towards the Four-Year-Old Classic Series and he was very impressive winning over this course and distance at his last run on 25 September. He has had to overcome a setback in his preparation since but trialled well on 3 January and, despite his wide gate, Tuchel is a place chance for Zac Purton.
A Pal is a high class four-year-old who went forward from a wide draw to stalk the leader Red Lion at his last start on 1 January. He took the lead in the straight but was gunned down by Super Sunny Sing in the last 50m to finish runner-up. A Pal has to contend with a wide draw again here but is a place chance for Derek Leung.
Beauty Live was very good when held up near the rails in the straight before coming through late to beat all but Blaze Warrior on 11 December. Beauty Live is a course and distance specialist having won four times and I make him a win and place chance for Karis Teetan.
Winner Method had to work early to take up a position outside the leader, before hitting the front in the straight and holding on well for second to Marado on 24 December. He has not won since March 2021, but Lyle Hewitson should have him stalking the speed from gate two and I also make him a win and place chance at good odds.
It is an intriguing race to conclude the meeting with a number of other runners in good form with Winner Method, Circuit Stellar, Galaxy Witness, Mr Ascendency and Captain Win all going well enough to have place claims.
On Monday night, I fly out to attend the LONGINES World’s Best Horse Race and LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse ceremony in London and I have the first time honour to present the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse award to the winning horse’s connections.
It will be interesting to see how many Hong Kong horses and Hong Kong races are in the international classifications, which will be published on Tuesday. The final rankings of Romantic Warrior, Golden Sixty and California Spangle will be of great interest.
After the ceremony in London, I will rush back to Hong Kong on Tuesday evening to attend the Wednesday night races at Happy Valley.
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