If you were one of the racing fans who watched our Royal Ascot simulcasts last night, I believe you would have been very satisfied with the performance of Hong Kong runner Sweet Sanette in the King's Stand Stakes. This outstanding mare made a clean jump at the start to take the lead and still led by a length at the final furlong mark. Watching from the Ascot race stand, I thought she had a strong chance to claim a famous victory for Hong Kong, but she couldn't maintain the momentum when she hit the uphill slope in the final stage, and eventually ran third behind Prohibit and Star Witness.
I feel very happy for her connections as Sweet Sanette really gave a terrific run. Her jockey Jamie Spencer also delivered a top performance, and was full of praise for the mare afterwards. Unfortunately the uphill finish stretched her stamina just too far, but I still think she was very brave in defeat.
This is the second time a Hong Kong runner has finished in the placings in the Royal Ascot meeting, following Cape Of Good Hope who won the Golden Jubilee Stakes in 2005 when it was run at York instead. The uphill finish has always proved a challenge for Hong Kong horses who are used to flatter surfaces, which reminds us the importance of our horse training centre project in Conghua. On completion, it will offer a much greater diversity of training facilities than we have at present, including an uphill gallop. This will give our trainers more options for preparing their horses, and better equip them to cope with racetracks of different topographies when they compete overseas.
With this result, Sweet Sanette has maintained her record of finishing in the top three in all her starts over 1000m, and shown herself to be competitive against some of the best sprinters in the world. Now her trainer Tony Millard will arrange her to return to Hong Kong for a summer break. Let’s see if she will take on more overseas sprints next season.
After attending the first day of Royal Ascot, I headed immediately back to Heathrow Airport to catch a return flight to Hong Kong. So I'm already back home and won't need to miss tonight's races at Happy Valley.
Following the exciting races in Ascot, the Triple Trio jackpot of HK$24 million will create lots of excitement on tonight’s races, too. In the Shek Uk Shan Handicap - the opening leg of the Triple Trio tonight, appears to be a very challenging one. The expected slow pace should favour horses in the front of the field, with possible leaders included Mr Marfach, Super Brand and Arion Of Chiu Ton. But in my view, none of them is convincing in this role. Arion Of Chiu Ton, a winner of mile race in Sha Tin, is most likely to make the best of this and he should have some chance to get a place finish. Flying In, who is working well recently, is another runner with chance for top-three finish. Perfect Sprint performed quite consistently in recent outings. Despite he will take part in the Valley mile race for the first time, he will be my top choice in this race. Elephant Cheers is the other horse I’m interested to look at as though he will be raced from midfield, his performance when defeated by Crown Witness in his Valley debut last time was really impressive.
The Wong Chuk Wan Handicap is expected to be a slowly run event again, with Turin Champion and Magnanimous probably in a favourable position in the front. Both Caga Boy and Romancing Tamar are expected to go forward, too. If the latter horse can avoid to be trapped wide, he will have some chance to get a money finish. My Way will be my top choice in this race as he will be positioned in midfield and is working well as recently. So did Redoute's Fortune who is in great form. Super Genki also has top-three chance but he needs luck like in his last run to get a run from the back of the field.
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