Every season, several European jockeys are granted licenses to ride in Hong Kong for a short-term stint at what is otherwise, their own home season’s winter break. Recent visitors Maxime Guyon, Umberto Rispoli and Mirco Demuro all delivered decent results and received plenty of support from our racing fans during their stay.
This year we have a lavish line-up, as announced earlier this week, a group of three jockeys will join us on short-term contracts, namely Gregory Benoist, Vincent Cheminaud and Ryan Moore. Like Christophe Soumillon, Benoist hails from Belgium and has done very well there in the past few years, most recently as Al Shaqab’s retained jockey in France. Vincent Cheminaud has a diverse background as the youngster was champion jump jockey, following his father’s very successful career in the same profession, before more recently turning to flat races and gaining strong support in the competitive French scene. I talked to Andre Fabre during my trip to Paris, who sees him as a very talented young jockey with a bright future. Undoubtedly, though, many of our local racing fans and media friends were thrilled to learn that Ryan Moore will take-up a short-stint in Hong Kong for the very first time.
Ryan has been one of the top riders in the world in recent years. With 15 G1 wins, this British sensation also won the inaugural World’s Best Jockey Award last year. I believe it draws great appeal among our local fans, and even the overseas media, to have Ryan, Vincent and Gregory riding in Hong Kong, battling our other world-class jockeys day in and day out at our tracks. This best reflects the world-class talent and high standard of racing we have now in Hong Kong.
Moore will come and start his riding stint exactly three months from today. But you can first watch his top riding performances from our British Champions Day simulcasts tonight. I have flown for a very quick visit to the UK for this big day of racing and will be particularly keen to follow Moore’s rides. Despite being sidelined with an untimely injury this summer, he has bounced back in fine form, riding three G1 winners in October, and possibly more to come.
Sunday’s featured trophy event is Race 8 – The Yan Chai Trophy (Handicap), a Class 2 event over 1,200 metres. Once again, we welcome our friends from Yan Chai Hospital back to Sha Tin, where the Chairman of the Board, Ms.Vanessa Lam Wai-shan will make the winning presentation. For this week’s blog, though, I wanted to take a look at the other Class 2 handicap on the card, the Wo Tik Handicap, which goes as Race 10.
There does not appear to be a strong early pace to this event. I expect the early sectionals to be set by Bullish Boy with quite a few looking to get a tracking position, notably Anticipation, Bubble Chic, Little Dragon and Renaissance Art.
Top Act normally likes to race slightly forward, but with only a moderate to slow pace, might be forced to either push forward or drop back to secure cover. Selkirk Star tends to settle mid-pack, while the likes of Wayfoong Express and Ensuring should be well off the pace.
Renaissance Art holds one win from two tries at this distance and seems likely to get a good trip here. He managed a win over 1,800m at Happy Valley last season and ran very well in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup at the 2,400m trip. He is working well at the moment and should be a fitter horse than his first up run. As such, Renaissance Art is my main win and place chance.
Ensuring might be too far back given his style but has been a model of consistency and ran on very well last time. I think the slow pace and top weight could be a bit much for him in this race, so consider him another placing chance. The wide barrier for Top Act feels like it could be troublesome, but he is working well and if Richard Fourie can find some cover with a handy position, could justify being a placing chance for me.
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