A strong rainstorm affected Hong Kong before our midweek race meeting on Wednesday, with the Observatory issuing the red rainstorm warning about two hours before the start of our races. Certainly Happy Valley was not spared from that as we had recorded a total rainfall of about 43 millimetres there, in just five and a half hours of time between 5pm to 10.30pm that day. Having said that, I was glad to see the amazing performance of the Valley’s turf track that evening. Despite the persistent rain, and the track condition changed from good to yielding in the first race to soft condition in the final race of the night, we were still able to continue getting through, with all jockeys and horses returned safely after races. I think in many other jurisdictions they would not be able to continue for that and would have postponed or abandoned the race events.
With the Buddha’s Birthday giving us a public holiday next Monday, I hope the weather could improve a bit during the weekend, so as not to ruin your plans to enjoy this extended weekend with your family and friends. These few days offer the promise of even more good times too for those of you who are fond of football and racing, as there will be a lot going on in these two popular sports this weekend.
On the football front, all the teams in four of the major European leagues, the English Premier League, La Liga in Spain, Bundesliga in Germany and Ligue 1 in France, will be playing their last league match of the season tonight or tomorrow. With Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain all confirmed - or pretty much so - as the champions of their respective leagues, most football fans will be focusing on the relegation battles.
Those of you who read my blog regularly will perhaps know that my home team is the Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach. Thankfully, they are not involved in that relegation battle, in fact they have enjoyed a great season and secured a top-three finish after their victory last week. They could even overtake Wolfsburg and climb up to second, if the match results are in their favour tonight. Fingers crossed!
It’s been a great collective effort by the team as they played very consistently this season, especially in the run-in as they have not lost in the league since February. More importantly to me as a Gladbach fan is the wonderful fact that in finishing at least third in the league they are guaranteed Champions League football next season. This is the very first time that they have qualified for the Champions League. But historically they are no strangers to European-level achievements. When I was young, Gladbach was one of the major forces in Germany, especially during the 1970s when they twice won the UEFA Cup.
Getting back to this weekend, there’s also plenty to excite in the world of racing. In Ireland the English 2,000 Guineas winner Gleneagles will seek a Guineas double in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh. But I believe those international racing fans in Hong Kong will have even more interest in the Prix d’Ispahan at Longchamp, as that Group 1 race will feature the battle between veteran runner Cirrus des Aigles and the French rising star Solow.
Cirrus des Aigles proved he remains a top force in the middle distance category in Europe, as this nine-year-old hero won at top level again in the Prix Ganay last month. As for Solow, I was there in person in Dubai last time when the greyproduced a brilliant display, thumping last year’s French Derby winner The Grey Gatsby in the Dubai Turf in March. I believe it will be an exciting race to watch and the added interest from Hong Kong’s perspective is that Solow is likely to be one of our top miler Able Friend’s biggest rivals in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
There’s more cracking racing on the local scene too. Joao Moreira is the runaway leader in the jockeys’ premiership and is almost certain to get his first champion jockey title in Hong Kong. But the competition among trainers is way more exciting, as John Moore now leads the board with 51 wins, closely followed by reigning champion Caspar Fownes in 49 wins, and John Size in 46 wins. There could be every possibility with 15 race meetings to go.
For sure they all will continue to rack up more wins if possible in the 11-race card as we arranged at Sha Tin tomorrow. Among them, the 8th race is the Sports Club Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, a Class 3 at 1400m, with a good tempo expected. Solar Kingdom, Happy Place and Sunny Pearl are likely to go forward and make the running. Sunny Pearl has the benefit of the inside draw and will carry only 111 pounds with apprentice Jack Wong getting the ride and he enters this race after a sharp effort when second at the same class and distance last month. He is a solid place chance.
Let Me Do is a win and top three chance after a taxing run in his last start when trapped wide and without cover. He is better drawn tomorrow and should get a nice run from midfield. Ultimate Glory is another strong hope in the race after a good second at the same class and distance last month and good recent form over his past three runs. He has also drawn a good gate and is a good top three chance along with Lucky Scepter, a horse that will go back from a wide draw and be running on through the concluding stages.
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