Dramatic is how I would describe Sunday’s Audemars Piguet QEII Cup day – dramatic in a way that only an exciting top international sports event could be. Nearly 30,000 racegoers joined us for international racing action at Sha Tin and were treated to fine weather and a great sporting show as a field of Group 1 racers battled for the day’s feature race. And complementing the upbeat atmosphere, our turnover on the day rose by 14 per cent on last year, which is in keeping with the season’s positive trend.
Things have also been going exceptionally well – in fact they probably couldn’t be any better – for new Club Jockey Tommy Berry. Riding at his first ever raceday in Hong Kong the Australian partnered Military Attack to win the APQEII Cup, so achieving an unprecedented feat for a licensed jockey in winning a G1 race on the first day of his Hong Kong contract. Being one of the best natural talents in Australia in recent years, local racing fans will have seen how Berry won the Golden Slipper and Doncaster Mile through our simulcasts over the past month. With his latest top-class success on our home turf, he is showing that he’s the real deal. Irish legendary jockey Mick Kinane once said that every jockey who is young should come to ride here in Hong Kong, because it makes you humble and you always have to be on the edge. With the great competitiveness of races in Hong Kong, I think that’s not an overstatement. I’m sure Berry can only benefit from this riding stint in Hong Kong, and, like many top jockeys before him, the experience here will help shape him into an even better rider.
Of course, a jockey, no matter how talented, cannot go anywhere without the right horse, and Military Attack proved that he too is the real deal as he continued his remarkable improvement. Sunday’s win was the horse’s fourth pattern race success of the season and his first triumph at international G1 level. I'm always delighted to see our rising stars break through at the very top level; it keeps the competition exciting for our racefans and maintains Hong Kong racing as a major force.
Other than Military Attack’s emphatic display, California Memory, Eishin Flash and Sajjhaa all performed very well and of course Ambitious Dragon was unlucky in his run. I was particularly taken with the run Eishin Flash though. The Japanese horse still came home strongly after starting the race from the outside gate, sitting at the tail and then being forced to wait for a split in the home stretch, while Sajjhaa stayed on to finish fourth after missing the start and running wide throughout the race. Their performances emphasise the quality of the race, which must be one of the best APQEII Cups in the race’s history.
Military Attack’s trainer John Moore said after the race that he will consider taking the horse to Singapore for the Singapore Airlines International Cup on 19 May. But as I understand the horse owner is less eager than Moore did, now describing the Singapore trip as a 50-50 chance. While the connections would further discuss and study over such race plan, I’m sure many would continue to follow on such news and see whether the trip would be materialised at last. Should Military Attack be there he could meet Dubai World Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux. Following his creditable finish in Meydan, Red Cadeaux, owned by our former Club chairman Ronald Arculli, put in another gutsy, high-class performance to finish third in the Spring Tenno Sho at Kyoto on Sunday. I’m sure this versatile runner is another horse that will get plenty of attention from Hong Kong racing fans later this month.
In the meantime, another Arculli’s runner, Red Courage, will feature in the Cox’s Handicap in our May Day races at Sha Tin Racecourse this afternoon. We also have another 10 races in our programme, the Tak Shing Handicap as last race of the day is run as a Class 3 event with an extended handicap band from 85 to 60 over 1600m. In regard to that there are four horses in Class 2 ratings are eligible to run in this race. As I mentioned before, they make these races being more difficult to assess. The pace is expected to be good to slow which tend to slightly favour horses in the front of the field. Chancellor should lead while Classic Jewellery and Wayfoong Express would work early to overcome their draws and to be well placed just off the pace. Genki Twins, Trump and Why Not should get positions around midfield with Percy Jackson, California Dude and Buddy Buddies have to come from the back.
Classic Jewellery has been a little bit disappointing because he gave the impression in his earlier days of being a horse of great potential and seems to be looming to win. He’s not going on with it but I have him as a win and place chance for this race. Genki Twins had one disappointing run after his surprise win and is working well and I see him as a win and place chance too. Trump is another four-year-old I like in this race, as well as Why Not who is working very well and is from the in-form stable of Dennis Yip.
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