International competition is the pinnacle of all sports and on Sunday (27 April) at Sha Tin, we were privileged to witness first-hand a string of extraordinary performances from champion horses, trainers and jockeys during FWD Champions Day.
We were delighted to host a total attendance of more than 46,000, including a FWD Champions Day record of 8,244 guests from the Mainland as well as 1,083 international attendees.
The feedback from visiting owners, trainers, jockeys and guests was incredibly positive in terms of the entertainment and hospitality provided and, of course, the world-class competition and atmosphere generated by the three FWD Champions Day Group 1 contests.
In particular, the reopening of the refurbished Inner Circle and Champion Circle venues at Sha Tin was extremely well received by some of the many tour groups from abroad who experienced for the first time the energy and competitiveness of Hong Kong’s racing as well as the pre-race opening ceremony, which created a fantastic vibe.
Mainland attendance this season has now reached 136,000, which far exceeds the 93,000 Mainland guests we hosted across the entire 2023/24 season. This is a great result in the face of the significant geo-political and economic challenges and again underlines Hong Kong’s horseracing as a key asset in the city’s tourism offerings.
There were several competitive highlights, notably KA YING RISING’s win in the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m). He is, I would humbly suggest, by far the best sprinter in the world and he showed this in defeating Japan’s excellent sprinter SATONO REVE and HELIOS EXPRESS.
He clocked 1m 07.88s after being eased down by Zac Purton to complete a perfect eight-win season for David Hayes and the Ka Ying Syndicate. His final 400m sectional of 21.78s was easily the fastest of the 10 winners on Sunday and is further evidence of KA YING RISING’s exceptional talent.
David deserves a lot of credit for the way he has consistently prepared KA YING RISING to have him in outstanding condition to win 12 races in a row against world-class opposition and how he embraces our magnificent Conghua facility to keep the horse in peak condition.
SATONO REVE (21.89s) proved his undoubted class, while HELIOS EXPRESS (21.60s) finished in the minor placings behind KA YING RISING for the seventh time this season after producing the fastest final 400m sectional of the meeting.
With a record 12 trainers’ championships and 1,595 wins in Hong Kong, it seems remarkable that John Size could spring a surprise with RED LION’s amazing effort to win the G1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) over VOYAGE BUBBLE.
John, of course, is a master trainer and has a rare knack to have his horses peaking on the day, as we also saw with HELIOS EXPRESS and ENSUED’s excellent fourth in the G1 FWD QEII Cup (2000m).
It was extraordinary to watch RED LION triumph at 89/1 under Hugh Bowman after a magnificent tussle with VOYAGE BUBBLE and James McDonald. After a lengthy stewards’ inquiry to hear an objection before RED LION was confirmed as the winner, I was personally delighted for RED LION’s owner and former Club chairman Mr Ronald Arculli and his wife Johanna.
Hong Kong horses filled the first eight placings in the Mile with SUNLIGHT POWER, MY WISH and GALAXY PATCH all running particularly well to illustrate the quality of our milers against top-class overseas opposition.
Japan has been a wonderful supporter of Hong Kong racing for many years and their owners and trainers consistently send their best horses to Sha Tin to race. Sunday was no exception and, in the absence of three-time winner ROMANTIC WARRIOR, it was fitting another world-class talent in TASTIERA won the FWD QEII Cup for Noriyuki Hori and Damian Lane.
Internationals filled the first three placings with PROGNOSIS running another Group 1 second ahead of Bahrain’s CALIF, while ENSUED ran very well for fourth ahead of BMW Hong Kong Derby winner CAP FERRAT and Hong Kong Classic Cup winner RUBYLOT, who both showed their quality.
Sadly, the loss of champion Japanese filly LIBERTY ISLAND cast a sombre pall over the latter part of an otherwise extremely successful meeting. I again offer my sympathy to her owners, Sunday Racing Co Ltd, who have been one of the most ardent supporters of Hong Kong’s international races.
As a rare winner of Japan’s Triple Tiara, LIBERTY ISLAND was a fantastic racehorse and, as an owner myself, I was devastated for her connections, including trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchidaand jockey Yuga Kawada.
From a business perspective, I was pleased with the outstanding results of the World Pool with a turnover of HK$440 million for this meeting which is an increase of nearly 10% over an already good commingling result last year.
At Happy Valley tonight, we welcome our friends from Korea to celebrate the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s relationship with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA) while the Beer Garden will feature Korean food, beverages and music as part of our Neon Nights theme.
The feature race is the Class 2 Seoul Handicap, which is carded as Race 3 at 7.40pm and will be run over 1000m with prizemoney of HK$2,840,000.
The pace will be good with GLORY ELITE (Derek Leung) leading from gate five. WHIZZ KID (Harry Bentley) has early gate speed and should hold the fence behind the leader, with AURORA LADY (Zac Purton) going forward from gate six. BRAVE STAR (Antoine Hamelin) and COLOURFUL KING (Andrea Atzeni) will also be prominent.
AURORA LADY has won four races over this course this season. At his most recent start on 19 March, AURORA LADY got further back in running than normal after being slow to move at the start. He ran home strongly along the fence in the straight and beat all but BEAUTY DESTINY. AURORA LADY is a win and place chance for Zac Purton.
COLOURFUL KING won narrowly over 1000m at Happy Valley on 19 March and then was very impressive scoring again at his next start over the same course and distance on 9 April. Although he is up in class, he is a place chance.
RED ELEGANCE (Hugh Bowman) is also a place chance, along with WONDER KIT (Lyle Hewitson), WHIZZ KID and GLORY ELITE (Derek Leung).
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