For the second week in succession, we've seen a runner conceding more than 20 rating points storm through to win a local Group One event at set weights. In the Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup last Sunday, California Memory, trained by Tony Cruz, created one of the shocks of the season by leaving a top-class field of other middle-distance runners in his wake, with jockey Matthew Chadwick riding his first Group One winner of his career.
This was the fourth victory of the season for this five-year-old horse, but I would say it was the most astonishing so far. He was still at the rear of the field when approaching the home straight, but then showed dazzling acceleration to secure a last-to-first finish. In the process, he completed the last 400m in a sectional time of 21.63 seconds, an outstanding effort in my view as it's comparable with some of the winning dashes of our top sprinters. For race favourite Irian, however, I was quite disappointed with his performance as he got very stirred up in the race and appeared to have returned to his old habits. I hope he would be more relaxed and in a better temperament in his next start.
California Memory was imported to Hong Kong from France last season by the late Dr Thomas Liang. Although this grey gelding was suffered from setback in his debut season, his excellent performances since then have proved Dr Liang’s vision was spot-on. He would have been very proud of the horse’s achievement on Sunday, as was his son Howard who has now become the Owner.
This horse shares the same grey colour as his father Highest Honor, who was a very successful stallion in France. Grey horses are less common among thoroughbreds, and it's relatively rarer to see them winning at Group level, so some racing fans tend to have particular affection for greys. It's good that we now have another grey horse gaining success here in top races, following in the hoofsteps of 11-time winner in the early 1990s Quicken Away, 1998 Horse of the Year Oriental Express and 2002 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup winner Precision.
Tony Cruz says he is confident that California Memory is a real big event contender and a champion stayer in the making. So it will be interesting to see how he performs in the Audemars Piquet QE II Cup and also the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup over the mile-and-a-half distance in May.
Soon after we watched a star on the rise in local racing, it was a dream come true in another sport on Sunday for one of our Hong Kong-based businessmen, Carson Yeung, who now owns Birmingham City Football Club. Just like California Memory, his team defied all odds by springing a surprise in the late stages of the game to beat strong favourites Arsenal 2-1 in the Carling Cup final at Wembley Stadium. It was the Club’s first major trophy in 48 years.
Having watched the highlights, I think Birmingham City enjoyed a good share of the attacks and shots in the match. Although the winning goal came from a calamitous error from the Arsenal defence, the Blues ultimately deserved their victory. This win will qualify them for European football next season and hopefully they can perform well on this wider stage.
Football is a very sociable game, and many fans like to share a beer or two with friends before or after matches. At our Happy Valley race nights you can always enjoy a drink in the Beer Garden, and tonight you can do something even more special – sample up to eight different wines with your friends at our Wines in the Valley evening. We will have carefully-selected wines on offer from France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and the US, as well some matching food treats prepared by our in-house chefs. So do bring your friends along to the Valley tonight and raise a glass to a great night's racing.
For the eight races on tonight’s card, the High West Handicap should be a quite interesting event. The expected good to slow pace and the C+3 course should give horses running in the front a slight advantage. New Glory and Amityship are expected to be in the lead. Particularly, I think Amityship should benefit from this and he should have a good chance for a close finish. Viva Fighter should be in the ideal spot just behind the pace and with his decent effort over 1200m at Sha Tin a fortnight ago, he is my favourite to win this race. Ocean Prince, who performed quite consistently and will be coming from midfield, and The Untouchablelad, who snatched two winners in this course and distance, can also challenge other leading contenders in this mile event.
The Volunteers' Challenge Cup is another very competitive Class 3 race, and it’s expected to be run at a fast pace. Good Boy Boy and Arrived Ahead – the very impressive winner in his first Hong Kong start over the Happy Valley 1200m, will have to push to lead. Arrived Ahead has a good chance to repeat his success, but I am a little bit concerned he is going back in distance, and with his wide draw of 12. The same applies for Good Boy Boy. Comparatively, I like Ever Beauty more, as from Gate 3 he should be able to sit just behind the speed horses. An interesting outsider is Charity Spirit, who is for me not only because of the name, but Douglas Whyte has stuck with him, showing an interesting indication of the horse’s ability.
Comment
