The Club is always reviewing our options and offerings to make sure we cater to the developing needs of our customers. Earlier in the week we announced the addition of Composite Win to our current line-up of race betting products. This new method of picking a winner will be available beginning with the Sha Tin meeting on 25 October.
This enhancement to the traditional win bet offers customers greater flexibility and variety, as not only will it enable groupings of similarly-priced horses in our local races, it will provide new options such as the "winning trainer" and "winning region" in our featured international and simulcast races.
The Composite Win bets are merged into the Win pool thanks to the technology of our partners at Longitude, similar to our existing merged pool on First 4 and Quartet, this ensures no issues with market liquidity. For our more casual customers, Composite Win offers a higher chance of winning as multiple horses are grouped together. For our existing and experienced customers, Composite Win provides some advanced risk-hedging opportunities. Regardless, the individual composites are automatically rebalanced given the odds in the Win pools, providing a "world's first" service to our customers.
The early responses in the media have been positive, and while we still have two more weeks until it is available, I am interested in your feedback once it launches. Turning our focus to Saturday, we will have plenty of glamour and beauty at the races today, as our new racing partner Lukfook Jewellery will be hosting their first sponsored race day at Sha Tin Racecourse.
The day's feature event, the Class 2 Lukfook Jewellery Cup (Handicap), looks to be equally attractive and entertaining, as two up-and-coming talents Packing Pins and Amazing Kids will be squaring up against each other in this 1400m race. It goes as the eighth race on the card, and the early pace of this race is likely to be a quick one. Precision King should go forward as is his typical tendency under apprentice Jack Wong. Drawn well in barrier three, I expect him to be free up front, though Multivictory should not be too far behind from him, as he's breaking from the far outside and will need to be used early to get a good position.
A large group are likely to want positions just tracking the speed, which should add the strong early pace. Amazing Kids will be in that mix from the rail for Joao Moreira, while Packing Pins and Racing Hero should take up a forward role too, along with Lang Tai Sing and Dr Good Habit. Kabayan normally enjoys to be in this group too, but with Multivictory outside of him, and the likely good pace on, Gerald Mosse might choose to drop him back. Horses that are likely to be well behind early include Same World, who will run over this trip that is much shorter than his usual races, plus Jazzy Feeling and Romantic Touch. Gurus Dream should also be towards the second half of the field in the early stages.
Packing Pins is searching for his fifth consecutive win, and second this season, while Amazing Kids is going for two to start his campaign. I'm impressed by both, but I'm a bit more taken by Amazing Kids, who is a win and place chance for me. Moreira rode both Amazing Kids and Packing Pins last time, but lands on the Amazing Kids. This horse burst through a tight gap and ran away to a handy win last time. While he's up significantly in the ratings, he only needs to carry an extra six pounds more than his first-up win.
Packing Pins is an obvious top-three chance for me. He has been working very well in the morning and while he gets another test here, he's hard to go against. Precision King gets in at the very light weight today and that could help him hold on as a place chance. Kabayan is also a place chance for me as he is working well and takes a step down in class – the strong early pace might draw him into the race.
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