We announced midweek the stellar line-up of jockeys that will participate in our LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship on 9 December at Happy Valley.
In this year’s competition, we will have five of the top eight jockeys who are in the latest LONGINES World’s Best Jockey standings, not to mention champions from three overseas jurisdictions. The top draw of the batch is surely the current world’s No. 2, American-based jockey Victor Espinoza.
Espinoza enjoyed a wonderful 2015 season with 11 G1 wins under his name this year, including six of them from his partnership with US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. We are glad to have Victor as the first ever US Triple Crown winning jockey to contest the IJC. It would definitely be a thrilling attraction to see him squaring off with Ryan Moore – the World’s Best Jockey last year, as well as the likes of Silvestre De Sousa, Maxime Guyon and Joao Moreira, all on our home track. Victor was with us for the IJC in 2003 and won an IJC race aboard a Peter Ho-trained outsider.
Our fans will need to wait for another two and a half weeks to watch these top jockeys in the IJC. But it will be way shorter if you want to take a final prelude on our top horses ahead of the internationals next month, as most of our leading hopefuls will feature in the three international G2s in our Jockey Club Races at Sha Tin this afternoon.
We have received some enquiries as to why we have raced for two consecutive Saturdays, and whether this is a change in policy for the Club relative to fixtures. We are not recommending any changes to our “policy” of having top races on Sundays and our race planning aim is to have three Sundays in a month and one Saturday.
The significant majority of our customers prefer Sunday race meetings, which allows for more time to study the form, not to mention Sunday races result in higher attendance and activity in our accounts and OCBB visits. While we originally planned for this meeting to be held on Sunday, it was rescheduled to Saturday given the District Board elections. We hope that many of our fans can still come to see a world class lineup of the top horses in Hong Kong.
The LONGINES Jockey Club Cup is run over 2000m as race 6 and is a Group 2 as a weight for age race with a condition relative to Group 1 winners. As such, Blazing Speed and Helene Super Star have to carry five pounds more than the rest of the field.
The pace is expected to be slow with Khaya leading if he jumps well which is not always the case. Helene Happy Star should follow him with Top Act and Military Attack well placed behind in midfield and indeed ready to attack when coming into the straight. Blazing Speed and Helene Super Star will sit behind these horses while the rest of the field, including Beauty Only, has to come from the back of the small field.
Military Attack is working well and ran well in his last run behind Contentment and is my first choice having the weight advantage. Beauty Only is working very well and despite not being successful over 2000m, can be in the placings due to the expected slow pace and his strong finishing speed. Helene Happy Star should have improved from his last start and has a place chance for me with Khaya.
Besides the distance, the BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Mile is run under similar conditions like the LONGINES Jockey Club Cup. Our superstar Able Friend and Designs On Rome, along with Dan Excel, have to carry 128 pounds while the rest of the field get a five-pound break.
The pace is expected to be good to slow with Beauty Flame leading Dan Excel and the exciting Contentment to follow them. Packing Pins and Secret Sham should be in midfield with Giant Treasure shadowing them, while Able Friend and Rewarding Hero should be next with Designs On Rome last.
Able Friend is in top form and even with the five pounds of extra weight, will be very difficult to beat. That said, Contentment could make a race of it being very well positioned behind the pace. Packing Pins is another good horse from last year’s classic generation being a 5 year old now with a place chance.
The BOCHK Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint is a terms race too with the same condition as the others. Gold-Fun and Peniaphobia must carry 128 pounds while the rest of the field is carrying 123 pounds. The pace should be good to slow too with Smart Volatility likely to lead with Gold-Fun stalking and Not Listenin’tome on his outside. Super Jockey will likely push forward to be beside the leader to overcome his wider draw in gate eight. Lucky Nine and Strathmore are behind in midfield with Peniaphobia. I’m In Charge and Dundonnell should be farther back with Charles The Great and Golden Harvest coming from the back of the field, which will not be easy with an expected slower pace.
The Sprint is a very open race with no stand out horse and I would not be surprised by an outsider upsetting the more established group horses. Gold-Fun, despite his five-pound penalty, is my first pick with Peniaphobia, Not Listenin’tome, and Smart Volatility are my next choices for a place. I’m In Charge is stepping up in class and could be an upset chance with Purton aboard.
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