One of the hallmarks of Hong Kong’s world-class racing is its extremely competitive nature and the slender margins which often separate victory and defeat, a trend which was again evident during Tuesday’s (1 October) National Day Raceday at Sha Tin.
Of the 10 races, seven were decided by half a length or less with three fiercely-contested races being decided by a neck or less, often with a cluster of other horses tightly bunched behind the first three placegetters.
These margins underscore just how competitive Hong Kong’s racing is and, by extension, the demands it places on the skills of our world-class jockeys, who are invariably extremely determined athletes.
It provides tremendous entertainment for our customers and we were fortunate on Tuesday to watch talented four-year-olds such as BEAUTY WAVES, who won the G3 National Day Cup Handicap (1000m), PACKING POWER and WINNING GOLD continue impressive progress.
In winning his fourth races from seven starts since joining Pierre’s stable, BEAUTY WAVES has risen to a rating of 103 and he is the fourth horse in Pierre’s stable to attain a triple-figure rating behind GALAXY PATCH (119), TAJ DRAGON (113) and MUGEN (110), which is a great achievement.
Tuesday’s racing was complemented by a fantastic variety of off-track entertainment to celebrate National Day with performances by renowned national tenor Zhang Yingxi, Tsui Chun-kit and a team of young martial artists and local drum team, GEKKO.
There was a wonderful vibe with almost 25,000 attendees at Sha Tin and Happy Valley, including almost 5,000 visitors from the Mainland, enjoying the National Day Raceday atmosphere, which was enhanced by several cultural offerings including music and food.
Hong Kong racing continues at Sha Tin on Sunday (6 October) when the Class 2 Nam Long Shan Handicap is carded as Race 10 at 5.50pm and will be run over 1650m on the All Weather Track for prizemoney of HK$3,120,000. The speed is expected to be good.
TELECOM FIGHTERS (Britney Wong) should be able to lead but may have to work to get to the front from the outside gate. ALL FOR ST PAUL’S (Matthew Poon) also likes to race on the speed. MOMENTS IN TIME has drawn wide but will settle in a forward position and SWORD POINT (Derek Leung), who is racing on this surface for the first time, races close to the front and will be prominent from gate six.
ADEFILL was a three-time winner on this surface and distance last season, generally sitting off the speed and running on. He beat YELLOWFIN and TELECOM FIGHTERS on 29 May before running unplaced at Happy Valley behind WOODFIRE BRO on 10 July at his only run since. ADEFILL has had two trials leading to his seasonal reappearance and is a win and place chance for Karis Teetan.
MOMENTS IN TIME resumed over 1650m at Happy Valley on 18 September when he went forward from a wide draw and had to work to settle outside the leader. MOMENTS IN TIME took the lead passing the 400m mark and was headed at the 150m before fading to finish sixth to WOODFIRE BRO. MOMENTS IN TIME will improve on that run and was placed on dirt on debut in Chile. He is a place chance for Hugh Bowman.
RED HARE KING followed on his consistent form from last season when resuming with a close third to WOODFIRE BRO on 18 September when he ran home strongly in the closing stages. This is RED HARE KING’S first start under race conditions on this surface but he has always trialled well on it and, from a good gate, is a place chance for Matthew Chadwick.
CHILL CHIBI generally gets back in his races and always needs luck in the straight to be shown to best advantage. He resumed behind by WOODFIRE BRO at Happy Valley when he was near last at the 250m mark and ran home late to be fifth. CHILL CHIBI is another runner racing on the surface for the first time but is a place chance for Jerry Chau.
This is a highly competitive race to conclude an excellent card of racing. KA YING GENERATION ran third in the BMW Hong Kong Derby in March and is an interesting runner resuming with Zac Purton riding for the first time. BERLIN TANGO (Brenton Avdulla), CAPITAL DELIGHT (Ben Thompson) and APACHE PASS (Andrea Atzeni) all race well on this surface.
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