Hong Kong’s sprinting ranks have long been regarded as among the most competitive in the world and the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) again showed the depth of quality with VICTOR THE WINNER’s coronation as a Group 1 winner.
In securing the most important success of his still young career, VICTOR THE WINNER managed to beat two multiple Group 1 winners – LUCKY SWEYNESSE (four G1 wins) and WELLINGTON (four Group 1 wins) – as well as a string of other horses who have placed at the elite level.
Having started his Hong Kong career only 16 months ago, VICTOR THE WINNER has risen from a rating of 52 to 124 with seven wins and two placings from only 14 starts. In managing VICTOR THE WINNER’s career with familiar expertise, Danny Shum deserves enormous credit.
Similarly, Derek Leung’s ride was first-class and the way he was able to cross to the rail from barrier 10 and control the race tempo to have an easy first 400m sectional of 24.30s before covering the final 800m in 45.13s proved decisive with the overall time of 1m 09.43s outside of standard.
Derek is a very competent and somewhat under-rated jockey in Hong Kong and it was fantastic to watch the joy his second Group 1 victory provided. With almost 450 wins in Hong Kong, Derek is well respected by his peers and trainers alike.
His persistence in chasing the ride on VICTOR THE WINNER with Danny when Vincent Ho became unavailable through injury is also to be commended and I hope Derek continues to receive quality opportunities.
Regarding LUCKY SWEYNESSE, the world’s top-rated sprinter was unable to gather speed at the start and was further back than Zac Purton and Manfred Man anticipated in 11th place and because of this, along with the way the race was run, he was unable to get into a position to seriously challenge the front-runners until it was too late.
However, despite this, LUCKY SWEYNESSE still produced the fastest final 400m sectional of the race of 21.98s when he eventually got clear running to finish sixth. In running second, LUCKY WITH YOU continued his excellent form along with WELLINGTON, who also ran well again for third.
SON PAK FU made a fine Group 1 debut and, in finishing fourth, showed he is not only a Happy Valley horse.
I would like to congratulate Hong Kong’s Nichola Yuen, who is currently riding in South Australia, for receiving the Racing SA Apprentice Academy’s Caitlin Forrest Memorial Award. The award was created to honour the memory of Caitlin, who died following a race fall in 2014.
The award recipient is chosen by Caitlin’s family based on the qualities Caitlin embodied – hard-working, willing to learn and being good to deal with – so to earn this type of recognition is a credit to Nichola.
Nichola is in Australia to gain experience and has so far ridden 15 winners this season, while fellow Hong Kong rider Britney Wong, Alan Lai and Ivy Lam are also building their skill sets on a variety of tracks.
Nichola, Britney, Alan and Ivy are following a familiar path by gaining experience overseas with Vincent, Derek, Matthew Chadwick, Angus Chung and Ellis Wong having also ridden abroad as fledgling talents before returning to Hong Kong to compete successfully against the world’s best.
At Happy Valley tonight, the Class 3 O’Brien Handicap over 1650m is carded as Race 9 at 10.50pm with prizemoney of HK $2,050,000.
The pace in the race will be good with RED HARE KING the likely leader from gate five, with FASHION LEGEND on the pace from his rails draw. SIMPLY MAVERICK will also hold a forward position with WINNING DRAGON joining the leading division from his wide draw.
SIMPLY MAVERICK worked across from his draw to settle outside leader before rolling to the front on the turn and coming away for an impressive win over this course and distance on 10 January. That was SIMPLY MAVERICK’s second win from his past three starts. Andrea Atzeni goes back aboard after Vincent Ho won on him last start and, despite rising in class, SIMPLY MAVERICK is a win and place chance.
RED HARE KING is also up in class after settling in fourth place, being pushed wide on the home turn and running on strongly to win comfortably from Amazing Teens over this course and distance on 10 January. RED HARE KING is drawn well, should get a good run on the speed for Lyle Hewitson and is a place chance.
GALLANT WAKING ran well for second behind TOURBILLON PRINCE on 13 December and returned to winning form when storming home from the tail of the field to beat MOMENTS IN TIME on 4 January. Jerry Chau takes the ride for the first time and, if the pace is strong, GALLANT WAKING will be finishing strongly and is a win and place chance.
THESIS ran well behind GALLANT WAKING last start when he drew the rails and sat just behind the lead and stayed on in the straight to finish third. His three runs this season for Frankie Lor have been encouraging and THESIS is a place chance.
This a very competitive race to finish an excellent card of racing. Other horses with claims include LEAN HERO, a three-time winner over the course and distance, with Hugh Bowman back on board here and ROMANTIC LAOS for Zac Purton, who despite his wide gate can improve on his last effort behind when caught wide and fading in the run home.
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