French jockey Vincent Cheminaud produced a top performance when he rode his first Hong Kong winner aboard Rocket Let Win on Wednesday night. Club Chairman Dr Simon Ip and I both offered our congratulations to Vincent right after the race. This young rider is very talented and I’m pleased to see him open his Hong Kong winning account. The time of this first win couldn’t come any better as he’s set to ride Flintshire for another crack in the LONGINES Hong Kong Vase. This will surely give him a huge boost ahead of the international races next week.
As this is Vincent’s first stint in Hong Kong, it is understandable that a new-comer like him might need some time to familiarize with local racing pattern and adjust his riding accordingly.
Our All Weather track top performer Gun Pit will face a similar challenge this weekend. He’s peerless on our all-weather surface at Sha Tin, having won all of his seven starts on the surface. Now he will test his mettle overseas and racing anti-clockwise for the first time, in the G1 Champions Cup at Chukyo tomorrow. I learnt that he was thriving in his fast gallop at Chukyo on Thursday, clocking 11.8 seconds for the final 200m split. That is a really good sign as it shows the horse settled pretty well and is ready for the big race.
His race rider Zac Purton partnered Aerovelocity for a win in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo in March, also raced on the Chukyo dirt during his riding stint in Japan this summer. He should possess considerable knowledge to the characteristics of the track and I think this will be very helpful to the horse. That said, Gun Pit has drawn wide in barrier 14 and will require a skillful job from Purton to manage that. It will be quite interesting to see how Gun Pit fares against some of the top dirt runners in Japan and I wish the connections having the best results in Chukyo tomorrow.
We will simulcast the Champions Cup to our local racing fans during our Sha Tin race meeting tomorrow. For the 11 races on the card, four will be on turf and seven on the all-weather track, and the feature is the Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup. The Peninsula Group is like the Club, a global brand, led by its flagship in Hong Kong, has some of the best hotels in the world. I stayed last week in the Tokyo Peninsula and really enjoyed the stay. They offer best in class facilities and service levels; their staff is outstanding.
The Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup is a Class 3 handicap over 1200m and Happy Chappy showed a level of speed that we never knew existed before his last start and I assume he will try to repeat adopting the same tactics again, setting a good to slow pace. Solar Kingdom is a regular leader and should work across from his barrier 9 to sit outside Happy Chappy.
Turin Pearl and Silly Buddies can be next with newcomer Lucky Guy who likely will push forward to overcome his wide draw and to avoid being too wide. Hit The Bid is versatile in his running style but he was most impressive when ridden quietly which I assume he will adopt again.
Happy Chappy is working very well and his last win was most convincing. He is my first choice. Silly Buddies has a much better draw than last time and should perform well. Hit The Bid is working very well with Moreira on board, is a strong win and place chance for me. Ultimate Glory and Archippus are other place chances.
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