I feel delighted that local racing fans continue to rank Derby day as a top sporting event and a not-to-be-missed racing occasion, as more than 62,000 people turned up to enjoy our BMW Hong Kong Derby day last Sunday. We reported close to 20 per cent year-on-year increase for our Derby day attendance this year, which marked it as a wonderful attraction for both racing fans and those more casual attendees. Their great enthusiasm and support were duly rewarded with two exciting Group 1 events on show - the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup and BMW Hong Kong Derby.
In the first of those races our reigning Horse of the Year returned to his top game and delivered an impressive victory, producing a dazzling display to coast home, leaving Glorious Days and Lucky Nine unable to find an answer in defeat. For the Derby it was a more hard-fought business as Akeed Mofeed – starting as a short-priced favourite – was put to hard work to claim the first prize in a battling finish. Certain factors in the running of the race made it a more impressive performance than the winning margin might suggest. Akeed Mofeed would not have been suited by the slow pace – he was keen when forced to switch three-wide as the pace slackened – and I believe Richard Gibson and Douglas Whyte, who was winning his third Derby in four years, are confident that the horse has a bright future.
Now it appears that these two big-race winners will likely square off with each other and be Hong Kong’s flag-bearers to repel the overseas visitors’ challenge in the G1 Audemars Piguet QE II Cup on 28 April. Should they both maintain their progress and condition, their presences in the race will greatly enhance our bid to keep the Cup at home this year.
The Derby and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup attracted plenty of welcome attention globally as quite a number of overseas racing papers and media reported the race outcomes. This reflects the international interest in Hong Kong racing and another news item that reflects the high global standing of Hong Kong racing is the recent announcement of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities’ list of the World’s Top 50 Group 1 Races. All four of our LONGINES Hong Kong International Races made the list, meaning that our flagship December meeting has the most Group 1s in the top 50 list of any single race meeting in the world, which befits its widely recognised status of Turf World Championships.
Hong Kong is also the Asian racing jurisdiction with the most number of races in the list, as with the Champions Mile joining the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup, Mile, Sprint and Vase we have five races in total. This is a great achievement when one takes into account the relatively small horse population and limited number of races in Hong Kong.
All of this is pleasing evidence of the generally high quality and standard of our racing in Hong Kong, a standard that attracts highly-rated and well-regarded overseas runners to compete in Hong Kong each year. It’s good for our sport here to see these overseas stars competing and sometimes winning on Hong Kong turf, it’s something that we love to see as we are always aiming to improve the quality of racing for the enjoyment of our racing fans.
Before we look forward to more international racing action next month, let’s get our focus back on our “dirt treat” at Sha Tin tonight, as eight races will be held on the all-weather track there this evening.
In tonight’s programme, the Choi Ying Handicap which is run as a Class 2 over 1650m on the All-Weather Track, is the sporting highlight of the day. The pace is expected to be good to slow with regular leader King Of Reason likely to take up his usual role but may be joined by Double Glory. Noble Alpha, Classic Jewellery and probably Masquerader can be well placed close to the front which will likely be an advantage due to the pace. Keen Wongchoy is expected to be in midfield and Silver Grecian, Free Judgement and Jolly Fine would have to come from the back of the field.
Even we have only nine runners in the field the quality is very good and it is not easy to rule any of the horse out to run at least a place. Free Judgement, who was reported with a restricted action by his jockey after his last race, is working well. On his best form he is a win and place chance in this race. Classic Jewellery is a horse which has always seen with good ability but not very consistent in his performance. Having said that, he is working well and is at least a place chance here. Keen Wongchoy is a win and place chance, too. My other pick is Noble Alpha who had to come three-wide last time and is better drawn in Gate 1 in today’s encounter.
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