Over the past year we carried various simulcast races from Japan and Europe, which gave local racing fans opportunities to watch some exciting and informative races from overseas. Some of the star performers from those races came to Hong Kong in December for our LONGINES Hong Kong International Races, and among them was one horse that really confirmed his status as a bona fide international champion.
I’m sure you can guess that the horse I’m referring to is Japan’s prolific sprinter-miler Lord Kanaloa, who was so impressive in winning the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint. Earlier this week the Japan Racing Association unveiled various year-end awards for its top horses and horsemen, and it is gratifying that a Hong Kong race tipped the balance in determining Japan’s Horse of the Year award. His emphatic win at Sha Tin, when added to his victories in the three G1 events he participated domestically, ensured he was voted the JRA Horse of the Year in 2013.
Japanese racing culture is such that there tends to be a preference towards middle-distance and classic distance horses, so it’s rare for a sprinter-miler to be awarded this coveted title in Japan. But Lord Kanaloa’s authoritative performances made it difficult to look elsewhere. His record of success was enough to edge the imposing Arima Kinen winner and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Orferve to become the first sprinter-miler to win Japan’s Horse of the Year title since Taiki Shuttle in 1998.
For our race fans in Hong Kong, we will soon enhance their total race entertainment experience with the relaunch of the Quartet pool. The Quartet requires customers to select the first four horses in the correct order, and will be available from the race meeting on Sunday, 19 January. I’m sure many veteran racing fans will have a sense of familiarity as this pool was a great hit back in the 1970s and 1980s.
In a race with 14 runners, there will be over 24,000 winning combinations in the Quartet pool. This will mark another world-first for the Club, as we will adopt the new Longitude technology for our pari-mutuel calculations when we launch the pool. This computing system was originally developed for trading assets in the financial industry, but after some re-engineering for horse racing betting purposes it will allow real-time odds display for all available combinations in exotic pools. Our partnership with Longitude gives us the capability to make best use of the latest technology and improve still further our service to customers.
On that front, I was pleased to see the positive reaction to two excellent new venues at Sha Tin – Hay Market and Wins Cafe – which we presented to the media this week. The Hay Market resembles a contemporary Victorian barn house, while the Wins Cafe is a retro of local Cha Chan Teng environment and settings in the 1970s. They are specially designed to meet the needs of different segments of customers. I hope those patrons on these new facilities would get some enjoyable racecourse and catering experiences in the future.
Before this new pool and new racecourse facilities being available to you in the next fortnight, we have another day meeting at Sha Tin this afternoon. I think most racing fans will keep a close watch on Joao Moreira after his four-star winning performance at Happy Valley in midweek. I was particularly impressed with his January Cup victory aboard Same World, when he showed how tactically astute is. He now has a season’s winning tally of 28, which put him 25 wins behind leader Zac Purton. If Joao continues to ride trebles or four-timers, we will have a very interesting scenario in our jockeys’ championship race.
It will be very interesting to see which jockey comes out on top today when we have 10 races on the card. Among them the Pok Oi Cup (Handicap) is a Class 3 over 1200m and is run as Race 7. The races are run over the A Course today which tends to assist horses coming away from the rail. The pace is expected to be good in the early sections which gives every horse a fair to chance to show his best. The Prince should take up his role as regular leader with Pretty One from Gate 6 may work to share the lead or take a handy position. With Meridian Treasure and Roman Legend both in handy position, Smart Forward and Silly Buddies can be well placed in midfield. Clancy Avenue, Psychologist, Real Treat, Sempiternal and The Way For All will all position further back. Glacier Blue from Gate 10 is likely to go forward but will need luck to find cover behind the pace group.
Silly Buddies is working very well and was unlucky last time when he was baulked briefly after straightening and was making ground on the winner Aerovelocity all the time to lose by a short head. Silly Buddies’ last sectional was 22.39 seconds and he will be the horse to beat in this race. His main competitor is Pretty One who is working well too and was second in his last outing. Smart Forward ran a good race in his first start in Hong Kong. He will be improved from the run and should be well positioned in midfield. Despite the awkward draw Glacier Blue is still a place chance, but they all have to beat Silly Buddies in my view.
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