There were some UEFA Champions League group matches in midweek and I’m delighted to see that all three German teams won their matches, including Bayern Munich and Schalke who secured away victories at Lille and Arsenal, respectively. But I think the most impressive of the trio was Borussia Dortmund as they edged the extravagant Real Madrid – the most successful European club and nine-time winners of this competition – by two goals to one at home.
With this emphatic success, the reigning Bundesliga champions are, after three matches, the current leaders of this “Group of Death”, which also includes English champions Manchester City and Dutch champions Ajax. Despite these three German teams being drawn in tough and challenging groups, I’m pleased to see that they are displaying fine form in this premier European Club football competition. And it would be sensational if all these German teams could proceed to the knock-out stage. I will be closely following their matches in the next few weeks.
In Hong Kong, football fans can easily follow their favourite football teams through our local terrestrial channels. But the story is not the same for horseracing fans in Hong Kong. Due to current simulcast restrictions, which limit us to only 15 simulcast days and 10 simulcast races, we are willing yet regrettably unable to broadcast as many of the top overseas races as we would like to for our race fans in Hong Kong.
It was great that we all were able to watch the big guns running on Caulfield Cup day, including the decent performance of Dunaden, and witness the historic victory of the great Frankel in the Champion Stakes last week, but due to restrictions, the Club has to forgo the simulcast of Cox Plate day at Moonee Valley today, and also the widely anticipated Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita Park on Friday and Saturday week.
Racing fans will always love to follow those star runners’ performances in a series of big events held around the world. Besides, may be a number of runners at these two race meetings could also have the chance to run in Hong Kong at our flagship international event – the Longines Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin on 9 December. So their performances in these races would give good reference to our racing fans on their latest form and condition before their possible next port of call in Hong Kong. As a major player in global racing, this is most definitely not an ideal situation for us and I believe many of the racing fans would glad to see the Government relax the rules and offer the Club more flexibility in this aspect.
In mentioning the Longines HKIR, let me also remind you that we will unveil the first stage entries for this race meeting next week. The provisional list will show which connections of top local and overseas horses have expressed an initial interest to join our Turf World Championships – and I’m sure that list will contain some exciting names!
Before then, Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon, Hong Kong Cup winner California Memory, and a host of other top local runners will feature in our Pattern race double-header - the HKG2 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy and the HKG2 Premier Bowl at Sha Tin tomorrow. These races are important contest as the contenders gear up for the Jockey Club Races next month and also the main events in December. It will be a good opportunity to check their latest condition and see how they perform tomorrow.
Another point of focus at Sha Tin tomorrow will no doubt be the Aaron Kwok-owned Calling With Love, who will be taking on a bigger challenge than last time when he steps up to a Class 3 event to face a few fellow in-form runners.
For the Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy, it is a very competitive race. Having a HK Group 2 under handicap conditions, with the best horse in Hong Kong, plus a distance preference of 1600m, it will be a real treat for racing fans. The expected slow pace makes the prediction of the outcome even more challenging, because expected leaders like Liberator, Mighty High and Helene Spirit are not competitive enough over this distance, but can slow down the pace to make it becoming a pure sprint. It will very much depend on whether those horses with a fast finishing pace, such as Ambitious Dragon, California Memory and Glorious Days, will be able to find a clear passage. Glorious Days should find a good position in the front of the field from Gate 3 and he gets a 4-pound advantage from Ambitious Dragon and one pound from California Memory. He is my pick among these three major and highly-rated contenders. Other horses carrying less weight such as Irian, which according to John Moore is working well, as well as Military Attack, will both be dangerous with the weight advantage!
Comment
