Kung Hei Fat Choy! This is my first blog in the Year of the Goat so let me first take this opportunity to wish you all a New Year full of health, prosperity and good luck.
The Year of the Horse turned out to be an auspicious 
one for Hong Kong racing and it ended, fittingly, as I’m sure most of you saw, with Thunder Fantasy’s thrilling win in the Hong Kong Classic Cup and Gold-Fun’s success in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize last Sunday – the last race meeting in the Year of the Horse. In fact both Group 1 feature races ended in tight finishes and were really exciting to watch. It was especially good to see the current crop of four-year-olds in action and I think Sunday’s Classic Cup suggests we are in for a treat in next month’s Hong Kong Derby. That is great news for all of us who love Hong Kong racing.
In fact, after watching the performances of a number of possible Derby contenders, I get the feeling that the 2015 BMW Hong Kong Derby will be a very open contest. The Classic Cup runner-up Redkirk Warrior showed that he has plenty of upside after running so well in only his third Hong Kong start and fifth overall. This British import stormed to the front halfway down the straight, but he showed his immaturity as he wandered around and lost momentum, which cost him the win right at the wire. Giant Treasure, who accelerated in the final stages of the 1800m event to finish third, cannot be underestimated either. Should these two continue to improve, I believe they could be the prime contenders in the Hong Kong Derby next month.
Apart from that, Thunder Fantasy’s stablemate Luger, and Dynamism from the David Ferraris stable, also posted impressive wins in the two Class 2 events last Sunday. There are plenty of angles to this year’s Derby. It’s always exciting to see these four-year-olds emerge to become possible new stars and that’s the thing we all really look forward to at this time of the season.
Back to the Chinese New Year celebration, the Club is very involved in the festivities, and we hope our efforts will enhance the enjoyment for everyone. Last night our Club’s float participated in the annual Chinese New Year parade at Tsim Sha Tsui. Tomorrow all of you can also come to the Sha Tin racecourse to join our celebration and try your luck at the Chinese New Year race meeting.
Traditionally the day begins with our opening show at the parade ring, with our jockeys greeting everybody before they compete in the first races of the New Year. As usual there will be live performances from artists and the festive decorations on course entertaining race fans during the show tomorrow. So don’t miss it and do come earlier to the racecourse to enjoy the festive atmosphere.
On the sporting side, we have arranged 11 races on the card and the day’s highlight will be the feature event, the Chinese New Year Cup. This Class 1 race includes a few interesting performers, particularly Divine Calling and Super Lifeline. I think it will be an exciting race to watch.
The Chinese New Year Cup is a Class 1 over the distance of 1400m. With the small field of eight and no regular pacesetter in the race, the expected pace will be slow which should give horses on the pace a slight advantage. Winning Leader performed well when raced handy and is the most likely leader here. Rails-drawn Super Lifeline can either join him or take the box seat on the inside of Real Specialist. Awkwardly drawn Gurus Dream and Kiram are likely to be eased to the back, with Divine Calling and Prince Falcon in midfield and Kabayan closely following Divine Calling. Divine Calling is working very well and 1400m seems to be a better distance for him. He is my first choice and is the clear favourite here. One should not underestimate Super Lifeline who is working well and Kabayan who has a tremendous turn of foot. Real Specialist is not fully fit but is a place chance here too.
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