FWD Champions Day is one of the most prestigious occasions on Hong Kong’s sporting calendar and, with only four days to go until our spring showpiece at Sha Tin this Sunday (27 April), excitement and anticipation levels are peaking ahead of the appearance of some of the world’s best horses and jockeys in three elite Group 1 races.
There was an impending sense of occasion at trackwork on Tuesday (22 April) when the early morning exercises of Hong Kong stars KA YING RISING and VOYAGE BUBBLE were followed by those of international visitors MR BRIGHTSIDE, GOLIATH, PROGNOSIS, TASTIERA and LIBERTY ISLAND.
While VOYAGE BUBBLE looked very impressive with a final 400m sectional of 22.9s with his companion VICTORY SKY, the world’s top-rated sprinter KA YING RISING completed his work with a comfortable final 400m of 24.6s before the internationals took to the track.
MR BRIGHTSIDE looked very fit and alert on the turf along with ROYAL PATRONAGE, while GOLIATH and LIBERTY ISLAND appeared to handle their work with ease ahead of their assignments this Sunday when a total of HK$74 million in prizemoney is on offer across the HK$22 million G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m), HK$24 million G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) and HK$28 million G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m).
We are privileged to have several of the world’s elite horses based on the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings competing in Hong Kong this weekend with KA YING RISING (equal fourth), VOYAGE BUBBLE (equal ninth) and SATONO REVE (equal 12th) as well as a host of champion jockeys including James McDonald, Zac Purton, Joao Moreira, Craig Williams, Christophe Soumillon, Yuga Kawada, Damian Lane, Tom Marquand and Hugh Bowman.
Similarly, the world-class trainers – including Francis-Henri Graffard, Noriyuki Hori, Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, Stephen Marsh, Fawzi Abdulla Nass, Haider Ebrahim Shaheen, Mitsumasa Nakauchida, Haruki Sugiyama and Ben, JD & Will Hayes – who will take on Hong Kong’s leading horsemen led by Ricky Yiu, David Hayes, John Size, Francis Lui and Danny Shum is testament to the quality of FWD Champions Day.
The presence of a large group of international and local media at trackwork this week is indicative of the global interest in FWD Champions Day, which is a wonderful celebration of international racing and I look forward to the official barrier draw ceremony on Thursday (24 April) as anticipation builds towards Sunday.
One of the things I enjoy doing is going to trackwork to see these global elite athletes going through their preparations for Sunday. While some of the over 100 media members are already here, the big influx starts today and many owners will arrive today or Thursday.
We have some big owner groups around especially Mr BRIGHTSIDE and ROYAL PATRONAGE with 30 and 40 share owners coming to Hong Kong to see their horses on the global stage.
It was good to see that NZ Star EL VENCEDOR was out on the track as he recovers from his hoof abscess even though he was a little bit frightened seeing himself on the big Diamond Vision Board but completed his trackwork afterwards.
The Four-Year-Old Classic Series has proved to be an extremely fertile ground for producing future stars with the emergence of champions such as ROMANTIC WARRIOR, GOLDEN SIXTY, VOYAGE BUBBLE and CALIFORNIA SPANGLE in recent seasons.
The 2025 series was highlighted by the winning performances of MY WISH in the Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), RUBYLOT in the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and CAP FERRAT in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) with all three horses subsequently selected to run on FWD Champions Day.
While MY WISH (FWD Champions Mile), RUBYLOT and CAP FERRAT (FWD QEII Cup) are rising to Group 1 level for the first time on Sunday, the performance last weekend of CALIFORNIATOTALITY to win in Class 2 over 1800m against experienced older horses while defeating fellow BMW Hong Kong Derby runners STEPS AHEAD (second) and BUNDLE AWARD (fourth) with another four-year-old PRAY FOR MIR (third) bodes well for the future.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday night (23 April), the Beer Garden will be transformed with the sights and sounds of Korea as part of our Neon Nights celebrations. One of our favourite performers Rechelle Mansour will provide the musical entertainment as guests enjoy Korean food and beverages, while the on-track feature is the Class 3 Roselle Handicap, which is carded as Race 9 at 10.50pm with prizemoney of HK$2,050,000.
It will be interesting to see how the four-year-olds BEAUTY ALLIANCE and EXCELLENCE VALUE perform while in last Sunday’s races the four-year-olds measured up well when dominating and capturing the first four places in the Class 2 Hong Kong Lions Club Handicap (1800m).
The speed will be good with GOOD LUCK WIN (Angus Chung) going forward from gate nine to lead. LUCK IS BACK (Keagan De Melo) has drawn well in barrier four and will settle on the speed along with BEAUTY ALLIANCE (Alexis Badel) and MONEY CATCHER (Matthew Poon) going forward from barrier 11.
FALLON (Ben Thompson) has been in outstanding form, winning over this course and distance on 19 February before twice finishing second to BEAUTY ALLIANCE on 12 March and then JUMBO LEGEND on 2 April over 2200m when beaten by a neck. FALLON always gets back and finishes strongly and he is due to win again. He is my win and place selection.
BEAUTY ALLIANCE was brilliant when he poured the pressure on before the home turn and came away to win on 12 March to claim his second course and distance victory before finishing 12th in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) where he raced in a forward position and faded in the run home. BEAUTY ALLIANCE is also a win and place chance.
JUMBO LEGEND (Harry Bentley) won over 1650m in October and won over 2200m last start, finishing strongly from well back on the straight to beat FALLON on 2 April. JUMBO LEGEND has been kept up to the mark since that win and is a place chance again.
CHARITY GAIN (Lyle Hewitson) finished third behind JUMBO LEGEND and FALLON and has won twice at this course and distance this season and while he always needs luck in running with his racing style, he is a place chance if gets a clear run in the straight.
EXCELLENCE VALUE (Luke Ferraris) impressed by winning over 1650m on 5 March and then produced a good third to M UNICORN over the same trip on 19 March, when he jumped awkwardly. EXCELLENCE VALUE has been in Conghua since and trialled well there before returning to Sha Tin. EXCELLENCE VALUE is a place chance.
CHAIN OF GOLD (Andrea Atzeni) and GOOD LUCK WIN are both racing well and have claims.
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