We hosted our first night race meeting of the season at Sha Tin racecourse on Wednesday and things went very smoothly. I must say that while I miss the buzz and excitement of Happy Valley, which will re-open next month, I do enjoy the floodlit action at Sha Tin. There was plenty of excitement and interest as four more jockeys and trainers opened their winning accounts for the season, among them Howard Cheng and Sean Woods.
Howard has made a full return after he was sidelined for nearly all of last season, so it’s great to see him back in the winner’s enclosure. It was also good to see Sean waste no time in getting the winners rolling as he achieved a quick-fire double in all-weather races. Howard actually went close to landing the HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup at the season opener, as he was a battling second aboard Smart Volatility. He notched a winning double on Wednesday, so that is a good recompense and I believe it will enhance his confidence for the new season. It’s also encouraging to see Derek Leung and Vincent Ho, who spent their summer breaks riding in Australia and France respectively, back among the winners. There is incredibly keen competition in the jockey ranks at present so I’m pleased to see that our home-grown jockeys have won four of the 18 races so far. Hopefully they all, as well as other local talents, will continue to do well as the season develops.
We shall see competition among jockeys will get intensified as we welcomed a top Australian horseman to Hong Kong. The jockey I’m talking about is Nash Rawiller who took part in our morning trackwork at Sha Tin starting on Wednesday.
Right before Nash came to Hong Kong, instead of spending his Australian winter at home, he decided to ride in Japan for two and a half months. He garnered some good results and even scored a Group race success on his last day there. Unfortunately he incurred a suspension when riding in Japan, which means he cannot race-ride in Hong Kong until early-October. Having said that, he has chosen to arrive here and started riding trackwork and barrier trials with a view to learning how Hong Kong racing works and building relationships with trainers and Owners. It’s pleasing to learn Nash saying that he looked forward to new challenges and thus decided to come riding in Hong Kong and compete against some of the best jockeys in the world. He believes Hong Kong will make him an even better jockey. I wish him success in his riding stint and I’m sure you will give him your support till his stay until January next year.
There was also some decent football action in midweek, as the first round matches of Champions League football were played on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s pleasing to see the German teams doing well in their first matches, as Dortmund and Bayern Munich both defeated their English opponents, Arsenal and Manchester City, while Schalke earned a creditable draw in London against Chelsea. Among the English teams, Liverpool were the only ones to notch a victory. It may have been against lesser opposition but I’m sure a winning return to the Champion League after a five-year absence will have been happily welcomed by Liverpool fans around the world.
Back to the Premier League Liverpool will be playing against West Ham United tonight. But the focus this weekend will surely go to the crunch encounter between Manchester City and Chelsea tomorrow night. Chelsea look rampant as they remain the only side unbeaten so far this season. It will be interesting to see whether they can keep their record intact when they face the reigning league champions at home.
Back to racing, we will have 10 exciting contests on our Sha Tin card tomorrow. The Foshan Handicap is a Class 5 over 1400m and most interestingly the first leg of the Triple Trio which carries a Triple Trio Jackpot of HK$27.9 million. The pace is expected to be good to slow which should help Oriental Fantasia, as ridden by Douglas Whyte, to take the lead and to defend it. He is a good win and place chance for me and could be the banker with Winning Advantage and King On Earth who should both be improved in fitness from their runs last Sunday. Archer's Bow and La Cote De Bleu are the other horses to be considered for the Triple Trio pool. In the next Triple Trio leg the Guangzhou Handicap, which is a Class 4 over 1600m, the slow pace should help Demokles, my favourite for the race which is working well, to find a good position behind the pace and overcome his bad draw. Glorious Ryder, Dual Happy, Oxford Charley and Terrific Master are the other potential horses for a place.
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