Although our racing season in Hong Kong has only just begun, the European season is about to enter its climax, with several major races due to be held in England and France in the coming fortnight. Among them, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is sure to be most avidly followed by racing fans around the world, as it will likely feature a match-up between Workforce, So You Think and Sarafina, three of the top performers in Europe this season. As in past years, we will simulcast this race to Hong Kong next Sunday for the enjoyment of our racing fans, so look out for further information on this race in the coming week.
One jockey sure to be eagerly anticipating this classic event will be Ryan Moore, who rode Workforce to victory in last year's race to complete a rare Arc and Epsom Derby double. The British champion jockey suffered a broken arm in a fall at Goodwood back in July, but has made a good recovery over the last few weeks and will hopefully be declared fit to partner Workforce again this year.
While Moore will soon be back in action, things have not gone as smoothly for Britain's top female flat race jockey Hayley Turner, who broke her ankle in a horrific fall at Bath three weeks ago and has been sidelined since then.
Turner, who is based in Newmarket, had previously been enjoying a wonderful 2011 season, having become Britain's first female jockey to win a Group 1 race outright when she brought Dream Ahead home in the July Cup, which some of you might have watched as we simulcast this race live to Hong Kong. She then doubled her Group 1 tally by riding Margot Did to victory in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York last month. According to the latest reports I read, she has recently had the metal casts in her leg removed, but will still need more time to make a full recovery, which means she will likely miss the rest of this year's British flat racing season.
As you can imagine, racing in Europe is highly competitive. It’s difficult for most jockeys to secure quality rides in ordinary races, and it’s even more challenging for female jockeys to make their mark, so winning at G1 level is a special feat indeed. Turner, however, has already endeared herself to British racing fans, and a great ambassador for horse racing there. I hope we'll see her back in the saddle soon. Who knows, maybe we can see her riding skills and charisma on home turf in our international events, competing with other overseas top jockeys in the future.
Actually, we have a couple of promising female riders under training at the moment in our Apprentice Jockeys’ School, and I'm told they've performed very well in training. One of our female trainees, Silver Wong, is receiving training in New Zealand and allocated to trainer Lance Noble. My colleagues told me that Lance was pleased with Silver’s performance, saying that she’s a hard working girl and is very keen to learn. In fact, she has already had a few barrier trials and is expected to take part in races for Noble and other trainers very soon. I hope Silver can continue to progress and I’m sure she and other young female riders will be some valuable additions to the local racing scene.
On the subject of local jockeys, I want to share with you an interesting statistic, namely that our home grown riders have won a total of 19 races in this season's four meetings to date, compared with 17 by their expatriate counterparts. Matthew Chadwick, Howard Cheng, Derek Leung and Keith Yeung have each ridden three winners, while Vincent Ho, Alvin Ng and Jacky Tong have all notched up two. It's great to see our local riders making such a prominent start, and I hope you'll continue to give them your strong support in the weeks to come.
Here I would also give my personal attention and support to John Moore-trained duo Silver Grecian and Mighty High, as the former horse just finished a close sixth in the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, and the latter ran third in an open handicap at Caulfield Racecourse today. Unfortunately, we decided not to simulcast the races live to our racing fans in Hong Kong. As according to current simulcast rules, we can just arrange 15 overseas simulcast race days every season. This factor forced us to make choices between our possible simulcast schedule, and we need to spare some of the simulcast quotas for other major overseas events later this season.
We cannot be satisfied with this situation which again creates possible opportunities for illegal bookies to solicit bets on these races. These all reflect the imminent needs of a review on current simulcast rules in Hong Kong. Only by doing so, we can enjoy better flexibility and have more options to cope with similar scenario in the future. Hopefully the government can act and review on this aspect very soon.
Back to the 10 races tomorrow at Sha Tin, in the Cumberland Handicap we see some interesting young new imports, which were bought with the season’s four-year-old series in mind, to compete against some decent Class 2 horses which were bought with similar ambitions before. The expected pace should be slow which should help horses competing from the front of the field. Penglai Xianzi will be able to lead and with his good trackwork form, he has a good chance at least to be placed. Military Move would prefer a stronger pace but he should be positioned in the midfield. He’s working very well and if Beadman can relax him, he’s for me the horse to beat. Noble Alpha as well as New Greenfield are two interesting newcomers with good overseas form, but both in my view will need the race, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if any of them to sneak for a place finish. Voile Rouge showed a good performance in his first start of the season in Happy Valley and is for me another runner who can finish in top-three, as well as David Hall-trained Algarve.
The Norfolk Handicap is a very competitive 1400 m Class 3 Handicap. The expected good to slow pace should ensure all horses having a fair chance. All of my favourite horses are coming from midfield or the back of the field, with All Victory, who won in his last start at the season opening day, has a nice chance to repeat his winning performance. He faces strong competition in Quantum Power and Best City, who are both working very convincingly. But my pick in this race remains to be Supreme Winner, who could start with a win into the season. His form last season was good and his excellent work indicates he can develop even more.
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