The dust has just about settled after Sunday’s fantastic racing. The LONGINES Hong Kong International Races once again gave us a fitting climax to the year and it was as exciting and successful an occasion as we had hoped it would be. Over 74,000 enthusiastic race fans at Sha Tin – a record since 1997 – created a vibrant atmosphere, we saw world-class performances and thrilling races, and the wonderful results of our Hong Kong runners showcased the high quality and dynamism of Hong Kong racing. It was a perfect showcase for the sport here in the Club’s 130th anniversary season.
As those of you who read my blog regularly will know, I previously shared my hope that the Hong Kong team and the overseas contingent would share the spoils with two wins each in the four Group 1s. As it turned out, our runners exceeded my hopes and they did so in style, winning three of four. Aerovelocity, Able Friend and Designs On Rome each made their marks on the international stage with their wins in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, the Mile and the Cup respectively.
There is little argument that the best performance of the day came from Able Friend. His jockey Joao Moreira just needed to ride him hands and heels into the straight, and with little urging he shifted up a gear and easily sped past his opponents to record the widest winning margin in the history of the mile contest. His thrilling performance proved that he’s a superstar in the making and is now ranked as one of the best milers in the world. I anticipate that the horse will be rated 126 or 127 for his exceptional performance on Sunday.
With Designs On Rome winning a really exciting race for the Cup, the first and second horses in last season’s BMW Hong Kong Derby both won G1 races at Sha Tin on Sunday, proving that the form of that prestigious local contest last March was in fact up to world-class level. It’s also encouraging to see Peniaphobia running so close in the Hong Kong Sprint, as it’s not very often that we see a three-year-old Hong Kong runner at the HKIR let alone running such a big race. Hopefully he will continue to progress and I believe he will be one of the key contenders for the Hong Kong Speed Series this season.
Of course, the HKIR is an international meeting that attracts a global focus, so it is important for the event that we not only attract world-class overseas runners, but that those runners also perform to their best. It was good to see that happen on Sunday with some good performances in defeat, notably the Japanese contenders Straight Girl and Grand Prix Boss, Ireland’s Gordon Lord Byron, Cirrus Des Aigles from France and Criterion from Australia. The standout overseas performance though came from the horse rated the best going into Sunday’s event, Flintshire. The French colt, runner-up in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf recently, went one better this time. In winning the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase he deservedly bagged his first G1 win of the year, and also gave his owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, one of the world’s great owner/breeders, a first HKIR victory. I was pleased to hear that the horse will stay in training next year and I would really welcome the horse back in 2015 to defend his title.
It’s important for these overseas stars to perform well in Hong Kong, as we are a place with a geographical advantage. Our location on the globe means that we are well-positioned to attract horses from East to West to compete on a fair and level playing field. If they are good enough like Flintshire, the excellent set-up in Hong Kong allows them every opportunity to show that and win. With the collaboration and staunch support as given by our great partner Longines, we’ve uplifted Sunday’s HKIR to another level, setting the bar even higher. Having said that, we will continue to improve this flagship international meeting and aim to recruit more overseas stars to come and compete against each other and our own elite runners here in Hong Kong.
I’m confident most of the 74,000 racegoers will have left Sha Tin racecourse on Sunday more than satisfied that they had experienced a great afternoon of exciting world-class entertainment. Back in 2005 when Vengeance Of Rain won the Cup for Hong Kong, we had just 39,000 people join us at Sha Tin. Comparatively, Sunday’s on course attendance figure was almost double. We believe that tremendous growth is due to our strategic planning over the past few years that includes our programming of simulcasts, which has familiarised Hong Kong fans with overseas racing, and a number of customer-centric initiatives which make the international meeting and our racing product more relevant to our customers. This has certainly taken time but as more of our racing fans are getting more familiar with the horses, jockeys and trainers, we know that they will come along and support our international races, just as we witnessed on Sunday.
Although the HKIR has come to a successful conclusion, there’s no shortage of excitement in the eight races on the card tonight at Happy Valley. Among the races, the Happy Valley Trophy is a "real" Class 1 event with a rating band from 115 to 90, and it will be run over 1200m. There is no standout leader but six of the 10 in the field are regular leaders or race on the speed, which should result in a good speed. Domineer from his rail draw should grab the lead with Go Baby Go and Happy Yeah Yeah likely to pressure him, which should help the remaining seven horses like Best Eleven, Super Jockey and Bullish Friend to benefit from the genuine pace.
Domineer goes up in class but in my view he has further potential and is my first selection, in combination with Tour De Force in this wide open race. These two horses are working very well and they are likely to be challenged by Exciting Dream and Super Jockey in this event.
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