Hong Kong racing has been blessed by some of the sport’s greatest champions throughout a long and rich history and ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s dominance on the international stage is the ultimate endorsement of the Club’s unstinting search for excellence.
From a sporting perspective, ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s G1 Jebel Hatta (1800m) triumph was one of the most spectacular wins ever posted by a Hong Kong horse – either at home or in a foreign jurisdiction – and underscores his reputation as the world’s premier middle-distance horse.
His performance to post a new 1800m track record of 1m 45.10s after trailing the leader by 10 lengths on the home turn and eventually winning by four and a half lengths was simply amazing and, while it was sad to see MEASURED TIME break down, it doesn’t take away from the outstanding performance of ROMANTIC WARRIOR, his trainer Danny Shum and jockey James McDonald.
ROMANTIC WARRIOR has demonstrated that he is the global champion, having won in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and now in Dubai – a performance not achieved by any other horse in the world within such a short period of time.
Danny’s outstanding achievements on the global stage as one our homegrown talents are the result of our commitment to developing world-class trainers by bringing outstanding horsemen to Hong Kong like Ivan Allan, who mentored Danny.
Ivan taught Danny how to travel horses overseas with the great INDIGENOUS and Danny has excelled through his determination to become the best he can be.
ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s latest accomplishment is a ringing endorsement of our relentless pursuit of producing world-class racing with the best available horses, jockeys and trainers.
While we had a slight decline in the number of horses in the 2024 LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, which is to a certain extent due to the Covid Pandemic which limited our owners the opportunity to source and bring horses to Hong Kong, we have already managed to restore our horse population to pre-Covid levels.
Having a horse like ROMANTIC WARRIOR as global champion over-compensates this slight decline and, in combination with having the joint world’s best sprinter in KA YING RISING with a horse population of only 1,300 horses, fills me full of confidence in the future of Hong Kong racing. Hong Kong racing is a symbol of resilience and a never give up spirit and drive for international excellence and we are immensely proud of ROMANTIC WARRIOR’s latest heroics.
At Sha Tin on Sunday (26 January), the Club marks the accomplishments of some of the city’s most inspiring athletes with Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Hong Kong, China Team Celebration Raceday.
Hong Kong, China’s Paralympians brought great credit on the city with eight medals – three gold, four silver and one bronze – at Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and also topped the Games boccia medal table, which is a wonderful effort.
We are delighted to acknowledge the achievements of the entire Hong Kong, China Paralympic Team with several of the races at Sha Tin named in honour of the sports in which our athletes competed, including boccia, swimming, fencing, table tennis and archery.
The Club has been a key stakeholder in driving sports development in Hong Kong and we are proud of the Jockey Club Athlete Incentive Awards Scheme (JCAIAS), which provides cash incentives to recognise local athletes who earn distinction for Hong Kong, China by attaining medals and posting remarkable achievements at major games.
It is tremendous to again reflect on the deeds of boccia star Ho Yuen-kei, who was Hong Kong, China’s most successful athlete in Paris last year with two gold medals, having won her individual event and also teaming with Tse Tak-wah in the boccia BC3 mixed pairs event.
Ho and Tse will join fellow gold medallist John Loung, who won the men’s BC1 boccia final, as our guests today, while we also honour the feats of Annie Cheung Yuen, Leung Yuk-wing, Daniel Chan Ho Yuen, Chan Yui-lam, Jasmine Ng Cheuk-yan and Chu Man-kai, among several others.
Our brilliant Paralympians will receive HK$12 million for their achievements in Paris through the JCAIAS. The Club, riding on its unique integrated business model, is committed to encouraging everyone to become more engaged with sport.
Whether as a spectator or as an active participant and preferably both, we can all take heart from Hong Kong’s ‘Play To Win’ attitude which was so brilliantly demonstrated by our Paralympians and I look forward to celebrating their achievements tomorrow.
The Class 2 Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Hong Kong, China Team Celebration Cup Handicap (1600m) is carded as Race 3 at 1.30pm with prizemoney of HK$3.12 million.
The pace will be good with VOYAGE SAMURAI (Derek Leung) and FLAMING RABBIT (Karis Teetan) the likely to share the lead. YELLOWFIN (Lyle Hewitson) races close to the speed and will be in the leading division along with WOODFIRE BRO (Keith Yeung).
SUNLIGHT POWER has raced consistently well this season and didn’t have much luck last start when he was held up for a clear run in the straight, finishing ninth to RUBYLOT in a very strong race over 1400m on 12 January. SUNLIGHT POWER has been working very well and is the choice of Zac Purton. He is a win and place chance.
VOYAGE SAMURAI drew wide and worked hard early before fading to ninth behind HUGE WAVE last start. VOYAGE SAMURAI was not beaten far in that race and, with a good draw here, Derek should have him on the pace and he is my second choice.
KARMA (Vincent Ho) won over this course and distance in October and since then has been settling back in big fields and running home strongly without threatening to win. Last start, he settled much closer over 1800m at Happy Valley and battled on when seventh to CHILL CHIBI. Returning to 1600m at Sha Tin and suited by a smaller field, KARMA is a place chance.
THE GOLDEN SCENERY won at Group level over 1400m early this season and at four runs since has not beaten far from the placegetters. Brenton Avdulla goes back aboard and, while he has to concede weight to all his rivals, THE GOLDEN SCENERY is a place chance.
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