In virtually any other season, the individual feats of ROMANTIC WARRIOR, KA YING RISING and VOYAGE BUBBLE would almost certainly secure 2024/25 Hong Kong Horse of the Year honours.
This season, however, has been truly remarkable not only for the elite performances of one Hong Kong champion horse – but three – and VOYAGE BUBBLE’s incredible effort in becoming the first horse in 31 years to win the Triple Crown after his remarkable victory for Ricky Yiu and James McDonald in the HK$13 million G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday (25 May) is a fantastic achievement.
With his fourth Group 1 win from five starts at the highest level this term, VOYAGE BUBBLE became only the second horse after RIVER VERDON in 1993/94 to annex the Triple Crown with victories also in the G1 Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (2000m).
Defying the weight of history, international raider DUBAI HONOUR and one of the largest fields in decades to contest the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup, VOYAGE BUBBLE thrust himself further into consideration for the Hong Kong Horse of the Year award with another tremendous win.
Ricky’s effort to manage VOYAGE BUBBLE through a highly-successful campaigns echoes that of David Hayes’ expertise with KA YING RISING, who also claimed four Group 1s in an unbeaten eight-race campaign which also saw him twice break Sha Tin’s 1200m track record and achieve acclaim as the world’s highest-rated sprinter.
Reigning Hong Kong Horse of the Year ROMANTIC WARRIOR has also had an extraordinary season, winning two Group 1s, breaking the Meydan 1800m track record with victory in the G1 Jebel Hatta (1800m) before slender defeats in the G1 Saudi Cup (1800, dirt) and G1 Dubai Turf (1800m).
Those performances saw Danny Shum’s globetrotter rise to joint second in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings alongside KA YING RISING and behind only Japanese dirt star FOREVER YOUNG.
Collectively, KA YING RISING (sprint), ROMANTIC WARRIOR (middle distance) and VOYAGE BUBBLE (mile and stayer) have proved their wares repeatedly at the highest level this season – in all distance categories – and we are privileged to have such champions from a pool of about only 1,350 horses – or 0.7% of the world’s active thoroughbred population.
Apart from VOYAGE BUBBLE, one of the most positive aspects of the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup was the performance of our four-year-old brigade with RUBYLOT (second), CAP FERRAT (third) and BUNDLE AWARD (fifth) finishing off strongly – evidence again of the quality of Hong Kong’s world-class racing – and I look forward to the progress of these talented horses into the future.
With only 14 meetings left in the season, John Size leads the trainers’ championship with 57 wins – five clear of David Hayes (52) – as the master trainer bids for a record-extending 13th championship.
Rarely a season goes past without John achieving a milestone of significance and Sunday was no exception with STELLAR EXPRESS giving John his 1,600th win, a figure bettered in Hong Kong by only John Moore’s 1,735.
John continues to perform at the highest level and his professionalism and desire to succeed makes him an exemplar of Hong Kong racing.
After a month of fabulous entertainment, our guests can tonight enjoy the final night of Happy French Wednesday of the 2024/25 season in the Happy Valley Beer Garden.
To celebrate the French May Arts Festival and French GourMay Food and Wine Festival, the Beer Garden has been styled into the very best of France with tailored food, beverages and music – with a Parisian touch.
One of the feature races is the Class 4 Sauternes’s Cup Handicap, which is carded as Race 5 and will be run over 1650m at 8.40pm. This race is supported by the Chateau D’Arche and Natural Food & Beverage, French merchant of wines and spirits from the famed Bordeaux region.
Dr Jean-Michel Descamps, Honourable Mayor of Sauternes and President of Bordeaux Racecourse, will present a bottle of Chateau Guiraud to the winning owner after the race.
The Class 3 Seine Handicap is carded as Race 9 at 10.50pm and will be run over 1200m with prizemoney of HK$1,860,000.
The pace will be good with SPORTS LEGEND (Ellis Wong) likely to lead from gate four and SKY CAP (Keith Yeung) going forward to sit outside the lead from gate 10. SPICY GOLD (Alexis Badel), GRACIOUS EXPRESS (Derek Leung) and GOLDEN EMPIRE (Lyle Hewitson) also should be prominent.
SPICY GOLD has won three races over this course and distance and dead-heated for second with STORM RIDER behind HAPPY FAT CAT on 30 April at his last start. SPICY GOLD has been at Conghua since and should get a perfect run from gate five and is my win and place selection.
SPORTS LEGEND won twice over this course and distance last season and has been consistent this term without winning. SPORTS LEGEND won a trial at Happy Valley on 9 May, has been working well and he is a place chance.
CHATEAUNEUF (Luke Ferraris) was dominant last start from his rails draw, beating KING MILES and BEAUTY INFINITY over this course and distance on 7 May. Despite rising significantly in weight and having to contend with barrier 11, CHATEAUNEUF is also a place chance.
GOLDEN EMPIRE has drawn barrier 12, but is also a place chance along with GOKO WIN (Matthew Chadwick), who was a narrow last-start winner and, although rising in class, has only 119lb.
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