Those of you who have recently visited the promenade at either Tsim Sha Tsui or Central might have noticed that a big marquee has been erected beside the Observation Wheel at the Central harbour-front. As some of you may know, the structure is the White Big Top, the performance venue of the upcoming grand horse show CAVALIA, which will commence on 31 March.
The sport we love so much here in Hong Kong, horse racing, requires a great partnership and co-operation between the horses and the jockeys on their backs. But certainly there are other examples of equestrian pursuits that show the close relationship between humans and horses. The Jockey Club is happy to present CAVALIA, which is also one of the leading events in celebration of the Club’s 130th anniversary. Not only will it give the Hong Kong audience a chance to appreciate the beauty and agility of horses, it will also show everybody how human acrobatics can perfectly combine with horsemanship, the strong dedication of both the performing artists and horse, and the huge bond and trust developed between them.
The Club’s veterinary team and its horse care facilities are known widely as world-class, and in fact they are among the global leaders in that field. I know that the 40 performing horses for the show arrived in Hong Kong last week and, that they are living at the portable stables right next to the performance venue. Apart from being the event’s presenting sponsor, the Club also offers horse transportation and veterinary support to all these performing horses. Should any of these horses develop illness or have any health issues, our Club vets will be ready to provide necessary veterinary support at all hours.
I hope the performance team has great success on their debut visit to Hong Kong this time, and to bring a lot of happiness to Hong Kong people. While we are looking forward to watching the show, we should not miss the exciting racing action too, including our meeting at Sha Tin racecourse today, which is going to commence shortly.
On top of the local races in Sha Tin today, one of Hong Kong’s top stayers, Dominant, will be running in the G1 Ranvet Stakes during the Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill. Regrettably, due to the simulcast restrictions and limited number of simulcast races on a Hong Kong raceday that we are able to show during our racing season, we are not able to simulcast all such races involving Hong Kong runners, including on this occasion, to the racing fans here in Hong Kong. Having said that, it is great to have our elite horses carrying the Hong Kong racing brand overseas in these major Group 1 races and I will be paying close attention to Dominant’s performance in the 2000m event. I hope he can perform to his best and run a great race and it would be a fantastic lead-off to a nine-day period that also include our seven runners in Dubai and a first ever contender in Japan’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen.
As for the 10 races on today’s Sha Tin card, the sporting highlight of the day is the Azalea Handicap which is a Class 2 over 1200m and is run as race 9 on the C+3 course. This course can be tricky for those horses who come from off the pace. As with horses in front of them tending to try to stay near the fence, the openings for horses would usually just come for horses sitting in handy positions. On most occasions runners who positioned at the back early would have to go wide to make grounds, otherwise it’s difficult for them to find the space to get through.
Lovely Delovely can at least share the lead with Go Baby Go if he jumps well. Supreme Falcon can take the box seat on the inside of Cosmic Boom or Speedygonzalez. The tempo should be good at least and should provide a level playing field for all runners. Lang Tai Sing, Golden Deer, Exciting Dream and Lord Sinclair can be well placed. Key Witness and Teofilo Calva have the risks to be trapped wide without cover and one or both may elect to ease back. Both horses work very well and are, despite the draw, the win and place chances and my first preferences in this race. Supreme Falcon is a win and place chance too for me, along with Bear Hero and Lang Tai Sing as chances for a place.
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