I believe many of you will have watched our Dubai World Cup simulcast on Saturday night and I’m sure would have been delighted by the performances of our Hong Kong runners. Joy And Fun and Eagle Regiment made a double on the Al Quoz Sprint, and these two top sprinters did not disappoint us, finishing second and third in this 1000m G1 event. Although Shea Shea was too strong, it’s still great to see Hong Kong horses doing so well in the race. Joy And Fun again achieved a top-three finish in his third participation in this race, and that means he has finished first, second and third in all his three starts in Dubai. For Eagle Regiment his pre-race preparation was interrupted with his hoof problem earlier last week, but it was great to see him finish unscathed after running gallantly in the race last night from a bad draw.
But it was a different story and tough luck for Frederick Engels as the John Moore-trained horse was a little bit fractious after being loaded into the stall, and missed the jump subsequently. Although he travelled fairly, he couldn’t find any daylight on the straight which cost his chance, and he finished 8th in the 1200m Dubai Golden Shaheen. Apart from Hong Kong runners, it’s also nice to see two other Hong Kong owners garnered some decent results on Saturday night, including former Club Chairman Ronald Arculli-owned Red Cadeaux’s runner-up finish in the Dubai World Cup, and Winston Chow part-owned The Apache who ran second in the Dubai Duty Free.
Although Hong Kong runners could not land a winner in Dubai this time, we did show that we have plenty of top talent in our sprint company. Hopefully our runners will be able to enjoy some more nice results in the Gulf next year.
Just 39 hours after Joy And Fun and Eagle Regiment finished second and third in the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai, we will see another high quality 1000m sprint when seven runners face the starter in the Hong Kong Group 3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy at Sha Tin.
Amber Sky is the obvious leader and is reunited with jockey Andreas Suborics, who rode him successfully in two Griffin races last season. Suborics was also up in a winning barrier trial at 1050m on the All Weather Track. The key point is Amber Sky has been freshened up by trainer Ricky Yiu and has a good record when prepared like this.
The main opposition will come from Straight Gold and Go Baby Go, which ran one-two over the same course and distance in their most recent outing. The three horses mentioned are a combined 11-for-18 at the straight course distance. Straight Gold has drawn outside, but all runners should have a fair chance due to the small field. Look for Amber Sky to go best of all in the early stages and Straight Gold to go best of all in the concluding stages, with not much between the two at the finish.
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