Some top runners from my home country Germany have emerged as forces to be reckoned with in European racing in recent years. They have been particularly strong in races over the classic distance of 2400m, with 2011 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Danedream and this year’s King George winner Novellist being Germany’s flagbearers. But those two are not the only horses that have done well – we have also seen Altano win the marathon G1 Prix du Cadran on Arc day and Pastorius notched a G1 success too in the Prix Ganay in France earlier this year.
With these impressive results perhaps there is a renewed confidence among German connections and an enthusiasm to test their horses’ credentials against other top opponents overseas. At this year’s LONGINES HKIR we will have one of the strongest participations from Germany in the event’s history, as there will be a total of four German runners, one in the Cup and three in the Vase. They are all G1 winners of good quality – I hope they will enjoy their visit and of course that they will do well at our Turf World Championships next week.
Among the German quartet I think Feuerblitz is one to keep an eye on. I’m sure some of you will recall that he came to Hong Kong for the Cup last year but this time he will feature in the Vase. The horse has won its two latest starts and last time in Italy he notched his maiden G1 victory. Interestingly this four-year-old cost only 3,000 Euro as a yearling, so he has produced a very handsome return for his owner given that his current career earnings have exceeded 400,000 Euro. A win in the Vase would in fact almost triple that!
It certainly won’t be an easy task for him. The Vase field is strong with some seasoned travellers among his opponents who are already multimillion Euro earners. One of those is French representative Dunaden, the 2011 Vase winner that was added to the Vase field in midweek. Another one is our Club’s former Chairman Ronald Arculli-owned Red Cadeaux, whose total prize money tops even the mighty Frankel’s earnings and makes him the top earning racehorse trained in Britain. These two globetrotters have both shown their great versatility, consistency, and their great ability to produce top performances regardless of different condition and environment at home or overseas.
I look forward to seeing these top-class world stars competing at our home track next week. Just before we turn our full attention to the excitement of LONGINES Hong Kong International Races week, this weekend I will be giving plenty of my attention to news from Japan where our champion jockey Douglas Whyte is participating in this year’s World Super Jockeys Series at Hanshin Racecourse. That event takes place today and tomorrow, and five of his rivals in that contest, namely Gary Stevens, Ryan Moore, Richard Hughes, Maxime Guyon and Suguru Hamanaka, will compete in our LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley next Wednesday. I’ll be interested to observe how they get on there and see if they can perhaps secure the good omen of some decent results before coming to Hong Kong.
Before international week, we have one more regular meeting at Sha Tin tomorrow when we have arranged an 11-race card. Among them, the Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup is a Class 2 handicap over 1200m on the All Weather Track. The pace is likely to be good with two good leaders in form of New Glory and Beauty Sparkle in the race, with Green Zone, Bundle Of Love and Lord Sinclair likely to race close to the pace. Besides them Rumba King and Silver Grecian are likely well placed too. Both Supreme Falcon and Great Spirit have to come from the back.
Lord Sinclair is working very well and despite making his seasonal debut, he is my first pick especially because he should be well positioned behind the leaders. Early pace horse win half of the races over this trip and New Glory is likely to be well positioned, which makes him a place chance. The same applies to Bundle Of Love. Horses coming from the back have to overcome this handicap but Silver Grecian and Great Spirit are able to overcome this and they could be placed in this race too.
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