Recognition among the international elite is the ultimate compliment and we are delighted that Hong Kong’s champion horses again feature prominently in the latest edition of the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.
With a perfect eight-win season, including four Group 1 victories, KA YING RISING has moved from fourth in the rankings to joint second alongside Hong Kong’s global champion ROMANTIC WARRIOR on a mark of 126, a figure bettered only by Japan’s outstanding FOREVER YOUNG (127).
KA YING RISING’s startling charge to international pre-eminence has taken just 15 starts and his success is testament to David Hayes’s clever use of Conghua’s world-class facilities, while Danny Shum’s extraordinary management of ROMANTIC WARRIOR in successful overseas campaigns is a resounding echo of his mentor Ivan Allan’s brilliance.
To have two horses ranked in the world’s top-three from an overall population of about 1,300 – or 0.7% of the world’s total thoroughbred racehorse population – is an incredible endorsement of Hong Kong’s racing facilities, the commitment and passion of our owners and excellence of our trainers and jockeys.
Adding further lustre to Hong Kong’s stellar representation among the sport’s global equine superstars is VOYAGE BUBBLE, who ranked joint 11th on a mark of 120 after an outstanding season highlighted by three Group 1 victories so far for Ricky Yiu with the possibility of a fourth in the HK$13 million G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m) on 25 May.
I congratulate all connections and thank the Club’s teams – stable staff, veterinary, tracks, farriers and many others – who have played significant roles in enabling our equine stars to shine so brilliantly on the international stage.
Mother’s Day is one of the most important occasions on the Hong Kong calendar and, for this reason, we are racing at Sha Tin on Saturday (10 May) to give our fans more time this Sunday (11 May) to celebrate Mother’s Day with their loved ones.
As we move through the final quarter of the Hong Kong racing season with our 70th meeting, Sha Tin will stage a 10-race meeting today to allow our fans the opportunity to enjoy the races before also celebrating Mother’s Day on Sunday.
The timing will also allow our participants – particularly trainers, jockeys, stable staff and the Club’s racing-related workforce – to enjoy Mother’s Day on a rare Sunday away from the track.
At Sha Tin today, we celebrate a significant milestone with the running of the Class 4 Riding for the Disabled Association 50th Anniversary Cup (1200m). The Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) was founded in 1975 by Lady MacLehose, wife of Sir Murray MacLehose, a former Governor of Hong Kong. RDA is the only charity offering therapeutic horse-riding lessons at no charge to the disabled community in Hong Kong.
The RDA touches the lives of more than 450 riders through over 3,500-4,500 rides each year. The Club is proud to support RDA, which relies on the generosity of the general public to sustain its operations.
The feature race at Sha Tin on Saturday is the Class 2 Pok Fu Lam Reservoir Road Handicap, which is carded as Race 10 and will be run over 1200m at 5.45pm for prizemoney of HK$2,840,000.
This is an outstanding contest and draws together one of the strongest fields in the sprint division in this class this season.
The pace will be good to fast with LADY’S CHOICE (Matthew Poon) contesting the lead from gate four. WUNDERBAR (Brenton Avdulla) has drawn gate three and should sit just behind the leader with BOTTOMUPTOGETHER (Zac Purton) also in the leading division. WHIZZ KID (Alexis Badel) and TOMODACHI KORKOROE (Luke Ferraris) are also likely to drive forward.
FAST NETWORK (Hugh Bowman) was incredibly impressive last start when he missed the start and settled on the rails at the tail of the field before sprinting brilliantly in the straight to beat BOTTOMUPTOGETHER and STELLAR EXPRESS by four lengths on 30 March over this course and distance. FAST NETWORK has been at Conghua since and is a win and place chance.
INVINCIBLE SHIELD (Lyle Hewitson) won successive Class 3 races over this distance before stepping up in class and distance to 1400m on 27 April when he went clear in the straight and fought on to hold off MARKWIN in the closing stages. INVINCIBLE SHIELD comes back to 1200m here but will get a good run from gate five and is also a win and place chance.
BOTTOMUPTOGETHER followed his second to FAST NETWORK with an easy all-the-way win on the All Weather on 20 April, proving too fast for SING DRAGON and BEAUTY WAVES. He should settle close to the lead from gate six and is a place chance.
WUNDERBAR won twice over this class and distance early this season and he remains the only horse to have beaten KA YING RISING in a race, scoring two wins over the star sprinter last season. WUNDERBAR hasn’t raced since 5 January when fifth to RAGING BLIZZARD as short-priced favourite. Champion trainer John Size has had WUNDERBAR at Conghua since and he has had four trials in preparation for his race return. This is a very strong race but WUNDERBAR has enormous talent and is a place chance.
There are plenty of other chances in the race including GORGEOUS WIN (Andrea Atzeni), LADY’S CHOICE and GUSTOSISIMO (Angus Chung).
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