With less than two weeks to FWD Champions Day at Sha Tin on Sunday, 28 April, a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation is building ahead of our feature spring meeting.
At Sha Tin yesterday morning (Tuesday, 16 April), the sight of GOLDEN SIXTY, CALIFORNIA SPANGLE and GALAXY PATCH trialling strongly ahead of their Group 1 assignments served as confirmation of what is in store for racing purists in 11 days.
GOLDEN SIXTY, who has not raced since his phenomenal G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) triumph in December, looked especially impressive with a rousing hit-out over 1200m, coming from the tail of the field to win his trial from CALIFORNIA SPANGLE by one and three-quarters of a length in 1min 10.31s, which was the fastest of the two 1200m trials.
CALIFORNIA SPANGLE led the trial and was kept under a tight rein by Brenton Avdulla in finishing second ahead of his G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) tilt for Tony Cruz, while it was clear Francis Lui and Vincent Ho were keen to give GOLDEN SIXTY a serious hit-out.
BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) and G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) runner-up GALAXY PATCH, who will clash with GOLDEN SIXTY in the FWD Champions Mile (1600m), also caught the eye under Karis Teetan in the second batch by closing powerfully to cross the line first in 1min 10.48s.
Vincent has been the epitome of resilience and determination over the past 10 months, twice recovering from injury to return to fitness and form. In the circumstances, his double on Sunday (14 April) on BABY CRYSTAL and HOLY LAKE could not have been timelier ahead of FWD Champions Day.
At only 33, Vincent is already the most successful jockey in FWD Champions Mile history with his five rides since 2016 yielding four wins with victory aboard SOUTHERN LEGEND in 2020 followed by GOLDEN SIXTY’s record-breaking reign in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Vincent’s professionalism and desire to learn have seen him continuously improve with a commitment to diet, fitness and a willingness to test himself in overseas jurisdictions. His association with GOLDEN SIXTY is part of the fabric of Hong Kong racing, while his partnership with Francis continues to strengthen.
Of his 569 Hong Kong wins, Vincent has shared 148 with Francis and 135 with Caspar Fownes – both of whom remain powerful allies for Vincent.
With 13 wins so far since the start of March, Francis has reduced Pierre Ng’s lead in the Hong Kong trainers’ championship from 16 to five with 25 meetings left in the season.
Trailing now 55-50 after his three-timer on Sunday, Francis continues to quietly excel in another outstanding season where his stable champion GOLDEN SIXTY has raced only once. Francis’ ability to develop younger horses such as last Sunday’s winner KING MILES – who is only three – has become an enduring feature of his training.
Francis has become something of a fixture at the upper end of the trainers’ championship, finishing in the top-five in five of the past six seasons and second last season to John Size, and his battle with former protégé Pierre will be fascinating over the last stages of this season.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday night, the Class 3 Magazine Gap Handicap is carded as Race 9 to be run at 10.50pm for HK$2,050,000 in prize money.
The pace will be good with RED HARE KING and SHOW RESPECT, who have drawn well in gates four and five, respectively, settling on the pace. SAMARKAND will go forward from a wide gate to be near the lead.
SHOW RESPECT is owned by Mr Zhang, who is one of the biggest owners globally through his Yulong Investments operation, and is the first horse Mr Zhang has raced in Hong Kong.
After some acclimatisation, having been Group 2-placed in Great Britain as a two-year-old, Show Respect has now won two races over this course and distance last month and at his latest run didn’t have much room in running.
SHOW RESPECT was shuffled back on the rails and then didn’t get a lot of clear room in the straight, when beaten two lengths by IVY LEAGUE on 10 April. Brenton Avdulla takes over aboard SHOW RESPECT and, on the quick back-up, he is a win and place chance from gate five.
RED HARE KING is in excellent form, having finished in the top three at his past six runs over this course and distance. He looked unlucky not to win when a close third to WINNING DRAGON on 21 February before making amends when, after being posted wide in the run, fought on in the straight and still proved too strong for WINNING DRAGON and GALLANT WAKING on 6 March. RED HARE KING has been in Conghua since that win, has a good drawn in gate four and is a place chance for Matthew Chadwick.
SAMARKAND has won four of his past six runs at the track and handled the step up to Class 3 last start when he had a good run stalking the speed and fought on strongly in the run to the line to beat LOVERO and HAMERON on 20 March. SAMARKAND will have benefitted from time at Conghua since that win and, if Jerry Chau can land him in a good spot from the outside gate, he is a place chance.
QUANTUM PATCH caught the eye last start when running home strongly from the back of the field to finish third to SHOW RESPECT and ZOOM BOOM on 27 March. QUANTUM PATCH was a winner over this course and distance earlier in the season and is a place chance with Hugh Bowman aboard.
This is a very deep race with lots of chances. CAPITAL LEGEND won well last start and has claims and ZOOM BOOM ran well behind SHOW RESPECT at his last run, while SILVER SONIC, GIDDY UP and CHARITY BINGO are all recent winners and are worth consideration.
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