Four elite four-year-olds – Sun Jewellery, Werther, Blizzard and Eastern Express – produced top performances and a hugely exciting finish in Sunday’s HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup. Just a neck separated this quartet, and fifth place finisher Giovanni Canaletto was closing fast on all of them, and I believe many racing fans would agree that it ranked as one of the most thrilling top-class races we have so far in our racing season.
Having won the Classic Mile and Classic Cup, Sun Jewellery is now on for the chance to achieve a clean sweep in the Four-Year-Old Series in the BMW Hong Kong Derby on 20 March, a feat that no four-year-old has achieved before. In fact, he is only the second horse to win both the Classic Mile and Cup, matching the feat of Floral Pegasus from 2007. But judging from the results of the Classic Cup, a clean sweep of the series is still far from a foregone conclusion. It will be interesting to see if these major contenders could take a step further and show progress ahead of the Derby in the next few weeks.
On the football side, the UEFA Champions League actions resumed last week, with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain enjoying advantages in their first leg matches. Last night the action featured Italian champions Juventus hosting Bayern Munich from Germany, and Barcelona went off to London, locking horns with Arsenal. I must say Arsenal played very well for the first 70 minutes and missed their chances, but the lethal combination of Leo Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez is nearly mission impossible to control over the full 90 minutes. I’d say Barcelona are clear favourites to go through to the next round and in my opinion, will win the Champions league.
Bayern Munich played very well especially missing key defensive players, but missed the chance to kill the game off with a third goal and were punished in the end, held to a draw. Still, they are favourites to go through to the next round, especially due to the two away goals they scored. Both Manchester City and Atletico Madrid will come up later tonight, but before then, we have a quality night meeting at Happy Valley, with a pair of Class 1 handicaps that will draw plenty of attention.
The Happy Valley Million Challenge also draws to a close tonight, so there will be no lack of action for our race fans. The last race in the series will be tonight’s eighth race, the Blue Pool Handicap, a Class 3 over 1,200 metres. Hella Hedge will likely go forward from his draw in gate 12 and try to clear and lead with Excel Oneself racing handy along with Righteous, now back in Class 3.
General Iron and Fantastic Feeling should both sit good mid-pack trips, and if the front runners go a bit quicker than some might anticipate, they are likely beneficiaries. Travel First is on a quick return following a strong effort at Sha Tin on Sunday and is another who settles mid-pack. Brilliant Dream will likely be at the back for Moreira.
For me, this race seems set for a thrilling conclusion to the Challenge, with Fantastic Feeling and Ryan Moore my top win and place chance. General Iron is a strong placing chance along with Brilliant Dream, who will likely come running late from the back.
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