The scheduled arrival over the next week of the 11 overseas horses entered for FWD Champions Day is another reminder that our glittering Group 1 flagship spring meeting on Sunday, 28 April is now only two weeks away.
Japan’s OBAMBURUMAI is scheduled to be the first of our visitors to arrive tomorrow (Monday, 15 April) as he prepares to throw down the gauntlet to GOLDEN SIXTY as Hong Kong’s champion presses for a record-extending fourth victory in the HK$22 million FWD G1 Champions Mile (1600m).
Keiji Yoshimura’s globetrotter will be followed to Sha Tin by four Japanese compatriots on Friday (19 April) – Group 1 winner MAD COOL and SUNRISE RONALDO, who are entered for the HK$22 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m), ELTON BAROWS (Champions Mile) and familiar visitor PROGNOSIS, who returns for another tilt at ROMANTIC WARRIOR in the HK$28 million G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m).
Great Britain’s dual Group 1 winner DUBAI HONOUR (QEII Cup), BELIEVING (Chairman’s Sprint) and BRAVE EMPEROR (Champions Mile) are slated to arrive on Saturday night (20 April) only hours before G1 winner CHAMPAGNE COLOR (Chairman’s Sprint) and HISHI IGUAZU and NORTH BRIDGE (QEII Cup) complete Japanese’s imposing contingent on Sunday morning (21 April).
The overseas contenders form almost a third of the 35 horses selected for the three Group features offering a record total of HK$72 million and it is pleasing to note there are 10 individual Group 1 winners among the fields.
Much interest will centre on the history-making bids of GOLDEN SIXTY and ROMANTIC WARRIOR, who is attempting to become the first horse to win the FWD QEII Cup three times and to add to three Group 1 races he has already claimed in a spectacular season – the W. S. Cox Plate (2040m), LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m).
Adding further class and depth is the presence of G1 Al Quoz Sprint (1200m) and G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) victor CALIFORNIA SPANGLE along with VICTOR THE WINNER, who followed his brilliant G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) triumph with a brave third in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen (1200m) in Japan last month.
The second day of The Championships at Randwick yesterday (13 April) marked the first time World Pool operated on a standalone 10-race meeting and the response from our customers was very positive with HK$328.1 million in turnover.
From a sporting perspective, it was great to see Andrea Atzeni win the G1 Sydney Cup (3200m) with an excellent ride on CIRCLE OF FIRE. It was a very emotional win for Andrea in memory of his late friend and fellow jockey Stefano Cherchi, who passed away on 3 April after succumbing to injuries suffered in a race fall at Canberra last month.
Andrea, who was riding at Randwick for the first time and now has 31 Group 1 wins around the world, has proved to be a fantastic addition to Hong Kong’s jockey ranks and currently sits fifth in the 2023/24 jockeys’ championship with 34 wins behind Zac Purton (91), Karis Teetan (61), Hugh Bowman (45) and Angus Chung (36).
The main race at Randwick yesterday, the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), saw one of the most astonishing performances with the incredible win by PRIDE OF JENNI, ridden by Declan Bates. The mare was leading by 30 lengths coming into the straight and finished six and a half lengths in front of the favourite VIA SISTINA.
The recent spate of milestone achievements in Hong Kong racing this season with Zac Purton (1,700), John Size (1,500), Francis Lui (900) and Danny Shum (800) looks set to continue into the near future with several other trainers and jockeys approaching notable landmarks.
Caspar Fownes needs only one more win to reach 1,100, Ricky Yiu is only five away from 1,000, David Hayes is five shy of 600, Douglas Whyte is three away from 300, while Pierre Ng – who leads the Hong Kong trainers’ championship in only his second season with 55 wins – needs only four more to reach 100.
Collectively and indivually, these are impressive statistics and point to the quality of the world-class horsemen operating in Hong Kong racing and I wish all of them the very best in their on-going endeavours.
At Sha Tin today (14 April), we have the first Griffin Race of the season, the Wangfujing Plate (1000m), which is run as the first race at 12.30pm.
Looking at the trackwork and trials, SANTORINI under Karis Teetan, THUNDER BLINK under Jerry Chau, LA FORZA under Zac Purton and RUN YES RUN under Matthew Chadwick are most advanced in their preparation and most likely fighting for the win.
LA FORZA trialled well and looks to be a nice horse and is my favourite to be the first Giffin winner in the season.
The Class 2 Jinbao Street Handicap (1200m) is carded as Race 8 at 4.05pm and carries prizemoney of HK$2.84 million.
The pace in the race will be good to slow with DROMBEG BANNER going forward from gate four for Karis Teetan to lead. LUCKY ENCOUNTER has drawn well in gate two and should be in the lead on the rails and GORGEOUS WIN should also be close to the leading division.
GORGEOUS WIN is the only three-year-old in the field and was very impressive winning three out of six starts but only ran ninth and was never in the race last start and weakened in the last 200m.
BUNDLE OF CHARM who was impressive winning on the All Weather Track on 3 April, when finishing strongly off a strong pace to beat WONDER KIT and GUMMY GUMMY. BUNDLE OF CHARM is a win and place chance for in-form rider Brenton Avdulla.
LUCKY ENCOUNTER won two races on the bounce early in the season and continues to race well. He stepped to the 1400m for the first time and fought on well for Andrea Atzeni finishing third to emerging star YOUNG CHAMPION on 16 March. Andrea should have LUCKY ENCOUNTER in a good position from his inside draw and he is a place chance.
ATULLIBIGEAL (Hugh Bowman) and DROMBEG BANNER (Karis Teetan) are both racing well over slightly longer trips and will have benefitted from time at Conghua since their last runs and deserve consideration.
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