Yesterday, I learnt the very sad news that our veteran Owner Mrs Cynthia Pong passed away on Monday. Mrs Pong had been a staunch supporter of Hong Kong racing for decades and owned at least a dozen racehorses over the years, many of them carrying names involving "iron" or "steel" in recognition of the family business.
Perhaps one of the most prominent of her horses, though, was Hong Kong International Sale graduate Cheeky, which raced at Class 1 winning more than HK$8 million in his career between 2001 and 2007. Mrs Pong was also a core member of the Grosvenor Syndicate, whose horse High Point helped Douglas Whyte achieve a milestone on the day of the 2007 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races day. It was his 947th winner in Hong Kong, breaking Tony Cruz’s long-time jockey’s record.
Despite of her high age, Mrs Pong remained very passionate about her horse racing. I had the chance to chat with her at the racecourse several times when she had starters in the day’s races. And she was there again with the family earlier this year to cheer on Dim Sum, owned by her grandson David, when he won the HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize for the second time.
Many of her other family members have also become involved in horse ownership over the years. In fact, it’s not unusual in Hong Kong and elsewhere for the love of horse racing to be passed on through several generations, and to me that continued thread is a very important element of our long-term racing development.
It’s sad to lose such a great Owner, and I’d like to offer my sincere condolences to Mrs Pong’s family. I hope they can overcome this difficult period before too long.
As it happens, Dim Sum has been entered for the G2 Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint this Sunday, so we shall have to see whether his Owner decides to go ahead and run him as planned. Please keep an eye on tomorrow’s declarations. This is one of Sunday’s three important run-up events to our Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races in December.
Earlier today, our preparations moved another step forward when we announced the line-up of jockeys who will ride in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley on 7 December.
The list of participating jockeys this year is as stellar as ever. It includes five past CXIJC champions; the winning jockeys of this year’s Arc de Triomphe and Melbourne Cup, Andrasch Starke and Christophe Lemaire; the regular rider of great Australian sprinter Black Caviar, Luke Nolen; and the current champion jockeys from Ireland and New Zealand, John Murtagh and James McDonald. If that line-up doesn’t produce some thrilling competitive action, I’d be astonished!
Britain’s Ryan Moore will also be returning to Hong Kong for this event, and having won the series outright last year and shared the title in 2009, he will be seeking to become the first rider to win the CXIJC for three consecutive years. Ryan is certainly in top form at the moment, as he showed once again in Japan last Sunday when partnering last year’s Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup winner Snow Fairy to a back-to-back victory in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup at Kyoto Racecourse.
The four-year-old filly delivered a tenacious kick in the home straight, flying between her opponents to claim success. This is the first time a foreign contender has won the same G1 event in Japan two years in a row. Including this latest start, Moore has ridden Snow Fairy five times, and all five have ended with victories at G1 level, which is quite an amazing record.
I understand that her trainer Ed Dunlop has already decided not to travel across country for the Japan Cup on Sunday week, and instead will bring her direct to Hong Kong. But whether she defends her Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup title, or takes on the Vase over the longer trip of a mile-and-a-half, remains to be decided. Based on her sound performances in the Irish Champion Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, I believe she would have no problem in settling at either distance. For certain, Snow Fairy will be one of the strongest contenders in this year’s internationals, no matter what Dunlop’s final choice turns out to be.
Getting back to our races tonight, Happy Valley’s night meetings have long been especially popular with our younger racegoers, as they offer an ideal opportunity to wind down with their friends after a busy day at work. Tonight at the Valley we will take this racecourse experience into a further new dimension, as for the first time we shall be blending fashion, live music and some great racing into a themed race night called Fashion Styles the Valley.
This will be the first of three midweek meetings to carry this theme, bringing catwalk shows and popular local bands to the Beer Garden and making it a more stylish and exciting place to be than ever. So please come and join us at tonight's opening event.
For the eight races on the card, the Queen's Road Central Handicap is a Class 3 race with an extended rating band reaching from 85 to 60, and has four runners rated over 80 which normally would have to start in Class 2. The pace is expected to be good to slow with Crown Witness have to work from Gate 12 to cross and lead with the better-drawn opponent Good Boy Boy. Despite of his wide draw, Crown Witness has a good place chance to me but I prefer Carry The Zeal who is drawn in Gate 1, and this runner is now in a terrific form. His main opponent is The Wand who is drawn in Gate 2 and should be well placed in the run shadowing Carry The Zeal. As an outsider I like Forever Elation which showed some improvement in his second start for the season behind Smart Kids.
The Wayfoong Centenary Bowl is a competitive Class 3 over 1800m and the pace is expected to be good. Regular frontrunner Win A Dozen needs to work from Gate 10 to get a cross, with Ho Wongchoy contesting for the lead. Enabling should be in a good spot behind the leaders and was very impressive in his last start. This three-year-old has more upside in my opinion and is the horse to beat. Fortune Winner is his main opponent out of Gate 4 and is working very well. Noble Deluxe will be stepping up to 1800m but I think he should stay the distance. Interchina Star is another interesting outsider for me as well as Private Road who are both proven over this distance at the Valley.
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