Horseracing is a sport that always takes place under high speed and powerful athletic exertion. Naturally, as with all athletes involved in high intensity speed events, racehorses run a risk of suffering injuries in races. Like human athletes, most injuries can be treated and the horse returns to the races without too much worry, but sometimes an injury might be serious enough to affect a racehorse’s career. Some top horses here in Hong Kong – thanks to the great care by vets, trainers and their stable hands – were able to cope with their career-threatening injuries and flourish again at the top level. Vengeance Of Rain and Sacred Kingdom are two obvious examples, as is Joy And Fun, who departed for Dubai this week for his third appearance in the Al Quoz Sprint next Saturday. Derek Cruz’s tough sprinter has enjoyed top-class success despite suffering serious injuries in his career.
Modern sport is highly physical and we only need look at football to see that many good players have failed to cope physically with the intensive demands of the modern game. Many top footballers have failed to return to their peak form after sustaining severe injuries. One example is former England striker Michael Owen, a player noted for his explosive speed and goal-scoring touch but also for the injuries that blighted his career, particularly in the later years. The former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker, one-time winner of the Ballon d’Or as Europe’s player of the year, was prominent in the sports news headlines this week after announcing that he would hang up his boots and retire at the end of the season.
In Hong Kong Owen enjoys high popularity, not only because many football fans have great affection for the England team but also because he once earned sweetheart status among many female fans here who apparently liked his boyish handsome looks. I can tell you he may not be as popular in Germany as he tormented Die Mannschaft by scoring a hat-trick of goals in Munich back in 2001, helping to inflict one of the heaviest defeats for my home national team on German soil. Having said that, Owen’s popularity as a sportsman and fine ambassador for football went beyond partisan boundaries.
Owen has been a great ambassador for horseracing in recent years too and has turned into something of a racing celebrity. He invested millions of pounds in the sport as he has developed a racing and horse breeding operation in England. He has enjoyed decent success with his homebred Brown Panther winning at Royal Ascot, competing in the German Derby and finishing runner-up in the English St Leger in 2011.
Surely Owen will continue to be a great football ambassador even after he leaves his current position with Stoke City in a couple of months. Hopefully the retirement will allow him more time to be involved in racing, and maybe, given his ambitions to compete at the top level, in the future we will see more of his horses in our overseas simulcasts.
Football fans here in Hong Kong were treated to an exciting match last night at the Mongkok Stadium. I’m sure most of you know that I’m talking about the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup qualifying match between Hong Kong and the Vietnam national team. The game attracted over 6,600 spectators, the first full house since the stadium was renovated. I was among those fans at the match and witnessed a passionate performance that resulted in victory for the Hong Kong team. The whole team’s fighting spirit lasted right until the final whistle and their commitment was rewarded in the closing minutes when they eventually got the vital goal that won the match. The atmosphere was great and I believe every local soccer fan at the stadium should be satisfied with the performance.
Back to racing, tomorrow we will simulcast the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen from Chukyo Racecourse, Japan – we will see if star sprinter Lord Kanaloa can claim his third consecutive victory when competing at the top-level, following his successes in the Sprinters Stakes and LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint late last year. With his connections choosing to stay at home instead of running against top overseas sprinters in Dubai, I will be interested to see how he fares in this top event as I have heard that he has strengthened up even more since December.
Locally we will also stage a pattern race event, the HKG3 Premier Plate at Sha Tin tomorrow. Although it’s a handicap race, it is one full of class and I believe it won’t be short of excitement either as the line-up includes G1 winners such as Military Attack, Fay Fay, Zaidan and Liberator. The expected pace of this race should be good to slow. With no strong pace rival, Beauty Lead should be able to cross and go to the front and share the lead with Aomen. I expect Packing OK, Zaidan and Liberator to be well placed close to the front, which is a slight advantage. Wrath Of Fire should be placed in midfield with Pure Champion who has to be careful not to get trapped wide with Fay Fay. Willie Cazals, Let Me Handle It and last but not least Military Attack are likely to race at the rear.
Military Attack is in good form and has fantastic finishing speed and is my first choice. Pure Champion is in good form too and is his main rival in a very strong field. Fay Fay is running well without winning and is a place chance for me as is Aomen. An interesting horse is Willie Cazals whose work has improved and is ridden by Matthew Chadwick.
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