As a horseman and racing lover, I always get very excited to see quality young horses put in outstanding performances on the turf to mark themselves as the sport's newest elites. That's just how I felt at Sha Tin last Saturday when I was really impressed by the way in which Collection won the final race. I'm certain that we were witnessing a new star in the making. After the horse found daylight in the straight, he seemed to have an extra gear compared with his opponents, and stormed home by the huge winning margin of four-and-a-quarter lengths.
It was an awesome performance and Collection's powerful final burst under top weight was absolutely first class. That's why I was not too surprised to hear of the comments made by his trainer John Moore after the race, when he suggested that the ability of Collection might be even stronger than that of Viva Pataca at the same age.
What's also impressive is how quickly the horse has adapted to his new environment after being imported from Britain. Over the many years I've worked in the racing industry in Hong Kong, I would put this performance and his amazing ability to quicken, on a par with other great champions like Electronic Unicorn, Fairy King Prawn and Good Ba Ba. But I hope he will prove it on Group One level and to have better temperament in his future starts.
With his rating revised to 115 after last week's victory, Collection now becomes the top-ranked runner in the 14-strong field announced yesterday to contest the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby 2009 and will likely start as favourite. That's not to say, though, that the result is a foregone conclusion, as there is some great quality in the rest of the field and a number of his opponents definitely have the right credentials to take the honours.
The outstanding performance of Thumbs Up in the Mercedes Benz Hong Kong Classic Mile, and the huge improvement shown by Unique Jewellery in his triumph in the Mercedes Benz Hong Kong Derby Trial last month, both suggest they will give Collection a tough race. Another John Moore's runner Kings Falcon, and John Size-trained hopeful More Bountiful, also delivered sound performances in those races and can pose a strong challenge to those leading contenders in this once-in-a-career event. So I'm certain we shall see an exciting race that is anything but one-sided.
There are still another three racedays to go, however, before we look forward to this top four-year-old event on Sunday 22 March. Tonight at Happy Valley we have eight interesting races on the card, and I will be watching the performances of Vanquish Delight and Super Plus.
In his maiden appearance at Happy Valley last time, Vanquish Delight travelled three-wide at the turn and was steadied away at 200m, but he still gave a satisfactory performance and finished just 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner. After the race, trainer Caspar Fownes has strengthened the training and preparation for Vanquish Delight. Having drawn nicely to start the race from Gate 1, I hope he can show further improvement when he steps up to the mile distance tonight. Super Plus had an outstanding performance in his victory at six furlong last time. Featuring in the same distance and enjoying the 10-pound allowance with apprentice Matthew Chadwick on board, I will not be too surprised if he makes it two in a row this evening.
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