With just over three weeks until the 2024 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR), the sense of excitement and anticipation continues to grow especially with the reappearance of Hong Kong’s brightest equine stars at this Sunday’s (17 November) Bank of China (Hong Kong) Race Day.
Six individual Group 1 winners – ROMANTIC WARRIOR, CALIFORNIA SPANGLE, INVINCIBLE SAGE, VOYAGE BUBBLE, BEAUTY ETERNAL and VICTOR THE WINNER – headline the entries for Sunday’s showpiece meeting, which will serve as an intriguing prelude to LONGINES HKIR.
As well the outstanding horses who have already achieved Group 1 glory, racegoers will have the chance to watch some of the most exciting young talents in racing, including KA YING RISING in the HK$5.35 million BOCHK Private Banking Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) and GALAXY PATCH in the HK$5.35 million BOCHK Private Wealth Jockey Club Mile (1600m).
With 14 of Hong Kong’s top 15 horses entered for the meeting – only champion sprinter LUCKY SWEYNESSE, who is rebuilding fitness while recovering from injury, is absent – racing enthusiasts will have the chance to assess the form of the city’s best horses before LONGINES HKIR, where the combined prizemoney of the four Group 1 features is a record HK$126 million.
One of the expected highlights of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Race Day meeting is the reunion of James McDonald, who starts a five-week stint on Sunday, and Hong Kong’s globe-trotting champion ROMANTIC WARRIOR in the HK$5.35 million BOCHK Jockey Club Cup (2000m).
James is riding in career-best form with a record 11 winners at the last week’s Melbourne Cup carnival and, judging by his recent trial form for Danny Shum, ROMANTIC WARRIOR has returned in tremendous order as he prepares to chase a record third consecutive win in the HK$40 million G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) next month.
Working continuously working for the betterment of society is one of the pillars of Hong Kong Jockey Club operations and the unveiling ceremony of the Sichuan University-Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) in Sichuan is an example of the Club’s commitment.
As the first of its kind on the Mainland, the facility is amazing and integrates scientific research, talent development and social services in the fields of disaster prevention and reduction and post-disaster reconstruction.
The new building provides a more spacious environment for teaching and scientific research and marks another stage in the partnership between Sichuan and Hong Kong in support of disaster prevention and post-disaster reconstruction in China.
The IDMR is an outstanding example of “One Country, Two Systems” in action, bringing together the Sichuan University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, with strong support from the Central Government, Sichuan Provincial Government and the HKSAR Government.
The IDMR was built with a RMB 200 million (approx. HK$215 million) donation from the Club as one of Sichuan’s reconstruction projects following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday, the Class 3 Fung Mo Handicap (1200m) is carded as Race 9 at 10.50pm with prizemoney of HK$1,860,000.
The speed will be good with SOVEREIGN FUND (Ben Thompson) the likely leader from gate four. GUSTOSISIMO has enough early pace to be handy from his inside draw, with ROMANTIC SON also settling in the leading division.
ROMANTIC SON made his Hong Kong debut two weeks ago, settling on the speed and taking lead in the straight before being run down by YOUNG EMPEROR in the closing stages. ROMANTIC SON will have derived benefit from that run, and drawn gate three with Zac Purton taking the ride, he is my win and place selection.
YOUNG EMPEROR showed potential in his three runs in Ireland before joining David Eustace in Hong Kong and could hardly have been more impressive when settling back in the field and storming home to make a winning debut on 27 October. Luke Ferraris will most likely go back again from gate nine and YOUNG EMPEROR is a place chance.
GUSTOSISIMO was narrowly beaten when making his seasonal reappearance behind KYRUS DRAGON and then was taken back from a wide gate and ran home well to finish fourth to SUGAR SUGAR over this course and distance two weeks ago. Angus Chung should have GUSTOSISIMO closer to the speed from his rails drawn and he is a place chance.
DENFIELD returned to winning form here on 27 October when he ran favourite and was too good for YOUNG HORIZON. DENFIELD comes back to Class 3 in this race and Vincent Ho takes over from Hugh Bowman. The outside gate makes it harder for DENFIELD as he will probably be posted wide in what is a very strong race, but he is a place chance.
SUGAR SUGAR (Hugh Bowman) also returned to winning form last start and will run well and PRAWNS ELEVEN, who ran second to BRAVE STAR last start when racing at Happy Valley for the first time and, is also a place chance for Harry Bentley.
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