And so, with only eight days until FWD Champions Day, final preparations are underway for our showpiece spring meeting at Sha Tin on April 28, when Hong Kong’s finest horses, jockeys and trainers face a formidable international challenge.
The first of our overseas visitors touched down in Hong Kong on Friday (19 April) with the arrival of MAD COOL, PROGNOSIS, ELTON BAROWS AND SUNRISE RONALDO from Japan, while the British contingent of BELIEVING, BRAVE EMPEROR and DUBAI HONOUR are scheduled to land on Saturday night.
By tomorrow evening, CHAMPAGNE COLOR, HISHI IGUAZU, NORTH BRIDGE and OBAMBURUMAI are expected to be safely in residence at Sha Tin ahead of their attempts on the three Champions Day Group 1 features which are collectively worth HK$72 million – the HK$28 million FWD QEII Cup (2000m), HK$22 million FWD Champions Mile (1600m) and the HK$22 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m).
Anticipation continues to build ahead of the reappearances of GOLDEN SIXTY, ROMANTIC WARRIOR, CALIFORNIA SPANGLE and VOYAGE BUBBLE, while the interest in the trial performance of BMW Hong Kong Derby winner MASSIVE SOVEREIGN at Happy Valley yesterday reflects the strong interest in our flagship meeting.
The trial performance of MASSIVE SOVEREIGN was impressive and creates even more hype for the flagship FWD QEII Cup and the clash with last year’s winner ROMANTIC WARRIOR and overseas world-class competitors.
I would like to wish the connections of all horses the very best of luck with their runners for FWD Champions Day.
Trainer and jockey milestones are being achieved on a regular basis this season and, on Wednesday night (17 April), Caspar Fownes became only the fourth trainer in Hong Kong history to saddle 1,100 winners behind John Moore (1,735), John Size (1,535) and Tony Cruz (1,502).
Given the fact Caspar is known as the ‘King Of The Valley’ because of his success at Happy Valley, it was entirely appropriate that KAHOLO LEGEND would deliver the landmark victory at the track where Caspar has had so much success.
While John and Tony have had the bulk of their wins at Sha Tin, Caspar has trained 596 of his winners at Happy Valley and 504 at Sha Tin.
At Sha Tin today, we highlight the Club’s long-standing and successful partnerships with Government departments, non-government organisations, community groups and academic institutions in support of Hong Kong’s social needs with the running of the Class 4 Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy (1000m).
The trophy to be presented to today’s winning owner is more than 170 years old and was first presented at Happy Valley in 1852 to the winner of the Wongneichong Stakes, COCKSPINNER.
The Class 2 Advanced Cultural & Sports Handicap at Sha Tin is carded as Race 9 and will be run over 1800m at 5.15pm for prizemoney of HK$3,120,000.
The pace in the race will be good with FLAMING RABBIT having brilliant gate speed and going forward from his middle draw to lead. ALL FOR ST PAUL’S has drawn out but will also go forward for Angus Chung to settle on the speed. SWEET ENCOUNTER can race handy to the pace from gate ten for Zac Purton and PACKING HURRICANE should also be prominent from his good draw.
CHILL CHIBI was brilliant winning three on end at Happy Valley this season before running home strongly for seventh in the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m). At his latest run, CHILL CHIBI settled midfield off the fence and stayed on strongly in the straight to finish fourth in the BMW Hong Kong Derby to MASSIVE SOVEREIGN over 2000m on 24 March. CHILL CHIBI should get a perfect run under Jerry Chau from gate five and is a win and place chance.
FLAMING RABBIT showed his usual brilliance from the gates and found a soft lead last start on 31 March, fighting on gamely in the straight for Lyle Hewitson to beat The Golden Scenery over 1600m. FLAMING RABBIT extends to 1800m for the first time in his career and it will be interesting how he handles that the extra ground. He is also a win and place chance.
PACKING HURRICANE is racing well and two runs back raced on the fence behind the leading group and came off heels to win impressively from SIMPLY MAVERICK over this course and distance on 18 February. At his latest run, PACKING HURRICANE went back from the start and made some ground in the straight to finish sixth to THE BEST PEACH on 24 March. PACKING HURRICANE has been to Conghua since that run and, if he settles closer to the speed from his draw under Keith Yeung, is a place chance.
THE BEST PEACH was impressive running on from the back of the field, storming down the middle of the course in the straight to beat C P BRAVE over this course and distance on 24 March. He then stepped up in class to run in the G2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m) 7 April. In the race THE BEST PEACH went back to last and made some ground in the run home to finish six and a quarter lengths from BEAUTY JOY over 1600m. Karis Teetan goes back aboard here and THE BEST PEACH is a place chance.
C P BRAVE has drawn well in gate three and Alexis Badel should be able to find a good position in running from that draw. He won two races over this course and distance earlier in the year in Class 3. At his latest outing, C P BRAVE was shuffled back in the field and was then held up for a run at the top of the straight, before staying on strongly once he got clear ground to be runner-up to THE BEST PEACH on 24 March.
SWEET ENCOUNTER had a hard run last start when trapped wide from an outside gate and failed to finish the race off in the straight behind THE BEST PEACH. Zac Purton will have to contend with an awkward draw again here but SWEET ENCOUNTER will have benefitted from time at Conghua since his last run and is a place chance on his best form.
This is a very competitive race and runners such as ALL FOR ST PAUL’S, TURIN MASCOT and SPEED DRAGON, who ran seventh in the Hong Kong Derby at his last run, are all racing well. It will also be interesting to see how stayers like NATURAL STORM and LA CITY BLANCHE perform as they head to the Group 3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup (2400m) on 5 May.
Regarding today’s meeting, one should look at the weather and track conditions which likely will see a good to yielding track. Furthermore, our tracks are undergoing a change from the winter grass to summer grass which normally results in a track favouring horses on the pace, especially when racing on the C+3 course to protect the track for our FWD Champions meeting.
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