With only eight days now until FWD Champions Day on 26 April, Hong Kong has shimmered this week as Asia’s events capital with the resounding success of the city’s “Racing with Rugby” collaboration.
Setting the scene for next week’s international racing showpiece at Sha Tin where champions such as KA YING RISING, ROMANTIC WARRIOR, MASQUERADE BALL and SOSIE will do battle, “Racing with Rugby” has showcased Hong Kong’s passion, resilience and renowned ‘can-do’ spirit.
A joint effort involving the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) and the Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC), “Racing with Rugby” celebrates the city’s two most popular sports across a single week of world-class events.
The HKFC 10s was a tremendous success, and it was wonderful to see so many people from the international and local rugby community who took the opportunity to attend both the Rugby 10s on Wednesday and the Happy Valley races later in the evening.
The atmosphere in the Beer Garden was amazing as patrons enjoyed the entertainment provided by BABBA and Jason Donovan, while also watching nine world-class races.
The Hong Kong Sevens enjoys a deservedly outstanding reputation on the global stage and the opening day at Kai Tak Stadium on Friday (17 April) was no exception with an electric, fun vibe complementing the amazing athletic performances on the pitch.
Collectively, horseracing and rugby have worked closely to reinforce Hong Kong’s standing as an international sporting destination and the Club is proud to this year to have served as the Official Community Partner of the HKFC 10s, while continuing its role as the Official Community Partner of the Hong Kong Sevens for the fifth year.
The Club is also hosting booths at the Hong Kong Sevens fan village, supports outreach programmes and youth rugby competitions, and provides tickets to students, the elderly and underprivileged groups, enabling the wider community to share the excitement of rugby.
As the Sevens builds to a crescendo over the next two days at Kai Tak, excitement continues to rise ahead of FWD Champions Day when a trio of Group 1 races – the HK$30 million FWD QEII Cup (2000m), HK$24 million FWD Champions Mile (1600m) and HK$24 million Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) – will be contested by a string of champion horses.
KA YING RISING will chase a record-extending 20th consecutive victory in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize and his gallop on the course proper was certainly impressive under Zac Purton on Thursday morning (16 April).
While the first part of the exercise was typically sedate, his effort to clock a searing 21.5s for the final 400m indicated his form had not tapered since he broke the Sha Tin 1200m track record with a time of 1m 07.12s in the G2 Sprint Cup on 6 April.
Equally, the form displayed by ROMANTIC WARRIOR and other Hong Kong entrants has been extremely positive over the past week and it sets the scene for a tremendous week at Sha Tin from Monday when I look forward to welcoming back overseas trainers, jockeys, owners and guests as well as the international media.
As part of the Year of the Horse celebrations, the Club is the sole sponsor of Horse Power, the first Chinese zodiac-themed documentary, which had its Hong Kong premiere on Friday evening (17 April).
Commissioned by China Central Television (CCTV) and has been recognised as one of the “2026 Blockbuster Films from CCTV Documentary Series”, Horse Power showcases enduring cultural heritage and cutting-edge cinematic technology and celebrates the deep connection between horses and humans through the use of high-definition dynamic cinematography.
Horse Power captures man’s reliance and love for horses across several different continents and beautifully illustrates the courage, loyalty and power of a truly magnificent animal.
World Pool will operate today on the All Aged Stakes Day meeting from Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, with the first of 10 races scheduled from 9.30am.
The G1 All Aged Stakes is carded as S1-9 and will be run over 1400m at 2.20pm and the pace is expected to be good.
Three of the jockeys who will ride in this race – James McDonald, Craig Williams and Jason Collett – will next week compete at FWD Champions Day, while Ethan Brown will start a short-term riding stint in Hong Kong from 26 April.
Chris Waller has five runners in the All Aged Stakes – ANGEL CAPITAL, KOVALICA, FANGIRL, LAZZURA and BEIWACHT – and James has chosen to ride ANGEL CAPITAL, who is yet to win a Group 1 but has been placed at the highest level on three occasions. He is extremely talented and, from gate four, is my win and place choice.
JIMMYSSTAR finished third to KA YING RISING in the G1 The Everest (1200m) and won this race last year after overcoming difficulties. He is also a win and place chance for Ethan.
BEIWACHT (Nash Rawiller) is perfectly drawn in gate two and is a place chance along with GIGA KICK (Rachel King), BRIASA (Zac Lloyd), PERICLES (Craig Williams) and FANGIRL (Ben Melham).
An interesting runner is HALF YOURS, who won both the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) last year and has been given more of a sprinting preparation for this race by his trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy. He is also a place chance.
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