It’s Dubai’s biggest event of the year tonight and I just arrived the Emirates early this morning, attending meetings and then I will be heading to the annual racing extravaganza. The Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan racecourse was a groundbreaking event when it was first staged in 1996. Saturday’s race is the 20th running, and since that first race it has become established as one of the most important race meetings in the international calendar. As one of the leading racing jurisdictions in the world, I’m pleased to see Hong Kong have strong representation at this year’s event.
Six of the seven Hong Kong raiders currently preparing in Dubai are sprinters, the other is our reigning Horse of the Year Designs On Rome who will take part in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic over a mile and a half. Designs On Rome will face eight opponents, including the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase winner Flintshire, the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Main Sequence, and Japan’s crack filly Harp Star. It promises to be a great race and I believe he has a decent chance if he handles the 2410m trip as good as he did over 2000m.
I know John Moore was happy with gate seven for Designs On Rome. Overall, I think most of the trainers who have jetted in to Dubai from Hong Kong were satisfied with their draws in their respective races. Last year Amber Sky started from gate eight and stormed down the stands’ side rail to win the G1 Al Quoz Sprint over the Meydan straight. This time he has drawn gate 10 while Peniaphobia has the plum berth, widest of all in 16. That should help him to easily take up a good position and race along the stands’ side rail. Bundle Of Joy is drawn low in two but don’t forget that Eagle Regiment finished third a couple of years ago when drawn in gate one! In the Golden Shaheen, around the turn on the dirt, Rich Tapestry seems to have a good draw in four and Lucky Nine is in eight, so both should have some flexibility when it comes to tactics.
From what I have heard, things have gone well enough for all seven during trackwork this week. I know Designs On Rome has looked particularly good, and Peniaphobia was also spot on. There’s no doubt most of these horses are carrying decent form into this overseas adventure. But of course there’s always some uncertainty when it comes to overseas races as factors like long travelling and change of environment could have some degree of impact on the horses’ adaptability. Anyway, I hope all of the seven will be able to deliver their “A” game and show their talent in the races tonight.
Our horses should be well positioned to do nicely in Dubai and in the Al Quoz Sprint all our horses are win and place chances. Caspar Netscher and Via Africa are in my view their main opponents. The Dubai Golden Shaheen is a difficult race to predict because it is hard to assess how our horses handle the new dirt surface. Cool Cowboy and Secret Circle have been seen as the horses to beat and Rich Tapestry is in my view our best chance.
The Dubai Sheema Classic is a very open race but if Designs On Rome, a son of Holy Roman Emperor, stays the distance, he should then be at least a place chance with Main Sequence, Harp Star and last but not least, Flintshire, being the other main contenders for the race.
Some 7,000 kilometres away from Meydan, the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint winner Aerovelocity will also carry Hong Kong’s flag. He will test his mettle at Chukyo racecourse, Japan, in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen tomorrow. As I’ve been away from Hong Kong, I have not had any chance to watch the footage of his final workouts during the past two days. Though it’s a bit difficult for me to follow the condition of the horse closely from here, I learnt that his trainer Paul O’Sullivan is very pleased with his horse’s condition, and the horse being full of himself. He is also drawn gate 4 in the race, which produced four winners – most of any barrier - in the last 19 runnings of the meeting. The Club’s Executive Director of Racing, Bill Nader will attend the big race at Chukyo and he will be there alongside the horse’s owner Mr Daniel Yeung, who has already arrived in Japan with his family and friends. The weather forecast is for Nagoya to have some rain tomorrow. Let’s see how he performs. I believe Aerovelocity should be able to show the quality of the top sprinters we have in Hong Kong and I hope we will be celebrating good news from both places.
With all these good overseas races, we should not forget that in our Sha Tin race meeting tomorrow there are also some very good horses running in the HKG3 Premier Plate. The expected pace of the race should be good to slow. Helene Super Star ran a cracking race last time when second to Designs On Rome in the G1 Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup. He’s working very well in recent trackwork and is my first choice here. Blazing Speed was one-and-a-quarter lengths further behind Helene Super Star when he was in third in the Gold Cup. Despite he has to carry top weight, he is the class horse among the field and I think he’s also in for a chance here. So did for Rewarding Hero who will be running for the first time over the 1800m distance, as well as Khaya who was placed at group level over this distance, though at Happy Valley, in January.
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