An extraordinary 2024/25 Hong Kong racing season is rapidly drawing to a close but, even with only four meetings left in the campaign, there is still much to play for before the season finale on 16 July.
With 40 scheduled races remaining in the season, Zac Purton has already secured an eighth Hong Kong jockeys’ championship with a remarkable 128 wins – 61 clear of Hugh Bowman (67) with Andrea Atzeni next on 55, but the battle for the coveted trainers’ championship remains in dispute.
John Size, seeking to extend his outstanding record with a 13th Hong Kong trainers’ title, currently holds sway with 65 wins, eight clear of dual Hong Kong champion trainer David Hayes (57), while three other winners of the Hong Kong trainers’ title – Ricky Yiu, Caspar Fownes and Francis Lui – are next on 49 wins.
The competitive nature of the trainers’ championship again underlines the sporting intensity of Hong Kong racing with 11 of our world-class trainers saddling 40 winners or more after 84 meetings and 807 races.
The ultimate destiny of this year’s champion trainers’ crown could become clearer today when John saddles 10 runners across nine races, while David has 12 representatives in 10 races.
Zac’s relentless pursuit of excellence and endless ambition has seen him claim a fourth successive jockeys’ title, but one of the most intriguing contests currently involves the tussle between Matthew Poon, Matthew Chadwick and Derek Leung for the Tony Cruz Award as Hong Kong’s leading homegrown jockey.
Matthew Poon (36) leads by only two from Matthew Chadwick (34) with Derek next on 32 after posting four wins across the past four meetings to pose a serious threat. While Derek (2016/17 and 2017/18) and Matthew Chadwick (2021/2022) have both claimed the Tony Cruz Award previously, Matthew Poon is yet to and he has made clear his objective to achieve the feat as well.
With talents such as Vincent Ho and Angus Chung featuring as previous winners of the award, the Tony Cruz Award is eagerly sought among our gifted homegrown jockeys and the next four meetings will be fascinating to monitor.
Speaking of Vincent, it was wonderful to see him back in action at trackwork at Sha Tin on Friday (4 July), when he rode horses for Caspar and Francis as part of his recovery from a serious accident in February.
Vincent is one of the most professional and dedicated athletes in Hong Kong with his commitment to diet and incessant improvement and I wish him all the best ahead of his intended return to race riding next season.
At Sha Tin today, we celebrate Chairmen’s Day with the Cup races named after former Chairmen of the Club.
The Class 2 Philip Chen Trophy Handicap is carded as Race 10 and will be run over 1200m at 8.40pm for prizemoney of HK$2.84 million.
The pace will be good with LADY’S CHOICE (Matthew Poon) leading from gate three. CALL ME GLORIOUS (Matthew Chadwick), COLOURFUL KING (Andrea Atzeni), TOMODACHI KOKOROE (Luke Ferraris) and DANCING CODE (Ellis Wong) will also be prominent.
MASTEROFMYUNIVERSE (Zac Purton) is chasing his fifth win of the season and third in a row. MASTEROFMYUNIVERSE has been in Conghua since his last run and trialled well there last week in preparation for this. MASTEROFTHEUNIVERSE has drawn awkwardly in gate 10 but, if Zac can get him into a good position, he is my win and place selection.
COLOURFUL KING has been in great form at Happy Valley, winning two races in succession before finishing runner-up at two subsequent runs. COLOURFUL KING won a trial last week and he is also a strong winning chance.
DANCING CODE has been racing consistently lately without winning, finishing second at his past two starts over 1400m and, from a perfect draw in gate four, he is a place chance again.
LADY’S CHOICE is a four-time course and distance this season and led throughout to beat BOTTOMUPTOGETHER and TOMODACHI KOKOROE in quick time on 10 May. LADY’S CHOICE drops in class after finishing seventh at Group 3 level, has a perfect draw and is a place chance.
HARMONY N BLESSED (Karis Teetan), GORGEOUS WIN (Brenton Avdulla) and TOMODACHI KOKOROE are all in good form and worth consideration, along with AERIS NOVIS (Derek Leung) and CALL ME GLORIOUS.
Our World Pool coverage continues on Saturday night from Greyville Racecourse in South Africa with the G1 Durban July (2200m), which is carded as S1-1 and run at 10pm.
The winners of this race for the past two years have been trained by incoming Hong Kong trainer Brett Crawford. Brett’s son James has two runners in the race this year, defending champion ORIENTAL CHARM and POMODORO’S JET, a winner at his past two starts in easier company.
The pace will be good with riders trying to get good positions early. ORIENTAL CHARM (J P van der Merwe) led throughout last year and has drawn to lead again. POMODORO’S JET (Athandiwe Mgudlwa) has good early speed and will be prominent along with CONFEDERATE (Warren Kennedy).
Star colt EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN’s trainer Justin Snaith has won this race three times and also has OKAVANGO and NATIVE RULER entered. EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN (Richard Fourie) effortlessly won against his own age in the Daily News (2000m) and, if he can get into a good position from his middle draw, EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN is a win and place selection.
ORIENTAL CHARM is seeking to become the sixth horse to win this race in successive years. His lead up efforts have been excellent with seconds in the Cape Town Met in January to EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN and DAVE THE KING in the Gold Challenge (1600m) on 7 June. ORIENTAL CHARM will be in front for a long way and is a place chance.
ROYAL VICTORY (Muzi Yeni) is also a place chance along with CONFEDERATE, IMMEDIATE EDGE (Callan Murray) and MY BEST SHOT (Chase Maujean).
The G1 Eclipse Stakes is carded as S2-1 and will be run over 1990m at Sandown Racecourse, England, at 10.35pm.
With a small field, the pace may only be moderate with RULING COURT (Oisin Murphy), DELACROIX (Ryan Moore) with HOTAZHELL (Shane Foley) all prominent.
OMBUDSMAN (William Buick) made a huge impression winning the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot for John and Thady Gosden, who previously won this race with NATHANIEL, GOLDEN HORN, ROARING LION and ENABLE. OMBUDSMAN is my win selection.
SOSIE (Maxime Guyon) is a high-class French challenger who is unbeaten in two runs this year for Andre Fabre, winning the Prix Ganay in April and Prix d’Ispahan. SOSIE is a place chance.
CAMILLE PISSARRO (Christophe Soumillon) finished third in the French Guineas over a mile before winning the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly (2100m) on 1 June and CAMILLE PISSARO is also a place chance.
DELACROIX (Ryan Moore) can rebound from his Epsom Derby failure when he started favourite and got back to last early in the race before finishing ninth. DELACROIX can run an improved race.
RULING COURT won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, beating FIELD OF GOLD and then ran well in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Ascot where he was third to FIELD OF GOLD and HENRI MATISSE and will run well.
HOTAZHELL resumed with a solid third to FIELD OF GOLD in the Irish Guineas on 24 May but this looks a much tougher test.
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