New Year’s Day is always an auspicious occasion on the Hong Kong racing calendar and last Monday’s Sha Tin meeting was no exception with fantastic racing and wonderful off-track entertainment.
The sporting highlight of the day was provided by Pierre Ng’s emerging star TAJ DRAGON, who delivered a career-best performance to provide Pierre and jockey Andrea Atzeni with their most important success in Hong Kong to date with victory in the G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup Handicap (1400m).
The quality of TAJ DRAGON’s triumph over seasoned opposition, including Group 1-winning CALIFORNIA SPANGLE, saw the five-year-old rise 21 points in the ratings to 111 – after he had started the season on 75.
With 40 wins to date and a 16-win lead over Francis Lui in the trainers’ championship, Pierre continues to go from the strength to strength and he is well placed to press for Hong Kong’s ultimate training honour based on recent trends at the same stage of the season.
In 2020/21, Caspar Fownes led the standings after 33 meetings with 34 wins, five more than Frankie, and won the title; the following season, Frankie led at the corresponding stage with 34 wins, three more than John Size, and advanced to a famous title victory.
John defied the pattern last season and clinched a record 12th crown after trailing Frankie (26) and Tony Cruz (25) with 23 wins. With 55 meetings left in the season, there is clearly still a long way to go, but Pierre has certainly made a statement of intent.
While Benno Yung and Ellis Wong had the honour of posting Hong Kong’s first winner of the year with EIGHTY LIGHT YEARS, the trebles of Zac Purton and James McDonald showcased the brilliance of these two champion riders.
Zac has reached the 50-win milestone for the 14th consecutive season, which is a remarkable accomplishment, while James completed a highly successful 12-meeting stint with 15 wins and 18 placings from 96 rides at a winning strike rate of 15.6%.
James has forged some powerful alliances with Hong Kong trainers, notably his Group 1-winning deeds aboard Danny Shum’s ROMANTIC WARRIOR, and he is already looking forward to returning to Sha Tin on 21 January to partner VOYAGE BUBBLE in the G1 Stewards’ Cup for Ricky Yiu.
As well as the G3 Chinese Club Challenge Cup on Monday, the racing was of a high standard and the performances of GLOBAL HARMONY, WUNDERBAR, STORM RIDER and FUN TOGETHER were eye-catching.
Off the track, there was a wonderful vibe generated by a range of activities, including the performances of COLLAR and Nowhere Boys, with a crowd of almost 30,000 people and the presence of many younger attendees.
The feedback from our customers, including those from the Mainland, was very positive and the day served as a reminder of the vital role Hong Kong horse racing plays in providing quality entertainment and world-class racing.
It was a very successful day for the Club and the saddle cloth presentation to the connections of the city’s three Group 1 winners at the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races last month – GOLDEN SIXTY, ROMANTIC WARRIOR and LUCKY SWEYNESSE – was extremely well received.
The season continues at Happy Valley tonight when we will have a Happy Thursday instead of the usual Happy Wednesday but we have a special feature with the appearance of Rechelle Mansour and her band in the beer garden. I liked her performance when I was at the New Year countdown at The Peninsula and was delighted to learn she will be on stage at Happy Valley tonight.
The feature race at Happy Valley is the Albatross Handicap, which is carded as Race 8 at 10.50pm for Class 2 horses over 1200m with prizemoney of HK$2,840,000. SON PAK FU is currently in fourth place in the DBS x MANULIFE MILLION CHALLENGE and can take the lead from CHILLI CHIBI if he wins this race.
The pace in the race will be good. MAJESTIC KNIGHT has good gate speed and will lead easily from gate three, with WONDER KIT in the leading group on the rails and HARMONY N BLESSED going forward from the widest gate to sit on speed. DREAM WINNER has early pace and should also be in the forward division, one off the fence.
SON PAK FU has won six of his last ten starts at this course and distance, winning for the first time off a mark of 43 in February last year. He produced an electrifying turn of foot on 29 November when storming home along the rails to defeat MAJESTIC KNIGHT and HOWDEEPISYOURLOVE under an inspired ride by Jerry Chau. SON PAK FU meets a similar field and despite rising further in the ratings is my win and place selection.
MAJESTIC KNIGHT showed good speed in that race to lead from an inside draw and kicked clear early in the straight to hold off all but SON PAK FU. Karis Teetan takes the ride for the first time and MAJESTIC KNIGHT is a place chance.
HOWDEEPISYOURLOVE won four races at this course and distance last season and was having his first run this term when settling midfield from gate one and staying on well for third to SON PAK FU. HOWDEEPISYOURLOVE was hampered for clear room in the concluding stages and could have finished closer. Brenton Avdulla takes the ride again for John Size and he should have HOWDEEPISYOURLOVE in a striking position from his rails draw and is a place chance.
WONDER KIT ran well last start when third to INVINCIBLE SAGE over 1000m at Sha Tin on 17 December and now comes back to the Happy Valley 1200m course where he has a good record. WONDER KIT will race on speed from his good draw and is a place chance for Lyle Hewitson.
This is a really deep race to finish the card with a number of runners in good form and having performed well over the course and distance. WINNING ICEY is an interesting runner with three victories here last season and he returns from injury having spent time at Conghua since his last run in June.
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