I hope you all enjoyed our exciting race night at Happy Valley on Wednesday. Generally speaking, with Happy Valley being a smaller and tighter track, races there tend to be more competitive and the fields more compact, as riders will be anxious to secure favourable positions in the early stages of the race before getting into their stride in the home straight.
While we do understand the difficulties that jockeys sometimes face, we can never condone instances of careless riding, because the safety of riders and their horses always has to be of paramount importance. That was why we found ourselves in the unfortunate situation of having to suspend four jockeys for careless riding on Wednesday night and fine another.
While we do understand the difficulties that jockeys sometimes face, we can never condone instances of careless riding, because the safety of riders and their horses always has to be of paramount importance. That was why we found ourselves in the unfortunate situation of having to suspend four jockeys for careless riding on Wednesday night and fine another.
Though we will be missing some of the jockeys for the remaining few racedays of this season, I can reassure our racing fans that we will still have enough jockeys available to see us safely through to the end of the season. Our Executive Director of Racing William Nader and the Stipendiary Stewards have been looking around for other suitable jockeys to ride here, and you may have heard already that one familiar face will be returning today, as Robbie Fradd will be flying in from Singapore to ride for us at Sha Tin this afternoon. Amercian Jockey Aaron Gryder, who has just won the Dubai World Cup this March with his mount Well Armed, and West Australian leading jockey William Pike, will also be joining our four final race meetings this season. So I hope you all will give your great support to these two new faces in the weeks to come.
It's been great to see Robbie enjoy a lot of success since he changed his riding base to Singapore, notably in his partnership with prolific sprinter Rocket Man, who put up such a strong challenge against Sacred Kingdom in the KrisFlyer International Sprint that we simulcast to you last month. As for Sacred Kingdom himself, he has already departed for England last Sunday in preparation for the Golden Jubilee Stakes on 20 June.
On Wednesday night, I met his trainer Ricky Yiu at Happy Valley and we chatted about the horse's condition since he arrived in England. Ricky told me Sacred Kingdom has settled down comfortably and is eating very well after the 29-hour journey, which involved a flight to Paris followed by a cross-channel trip to his training base at Manton. Ricky said his assistant Edwin Wong will arrange for the horse to take some light exercise in the coming few days. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Sacred Kingdom shapes up against the top European sprinters at Royal Ascot next Saturday.
Although, disappointingly, we have not been given permission to bring the Golden Jubilee Stakes live to you all, you can continue giving your support to Sacred Kingdom in our Most Popular Horse voting. He is leading the online voting at the moment, while his current rider Brett Prebble is leading the Most Popular Jockey tally. Anyway, whether you agree or disagree with those choices, don't miss the chance to have your say, as voting finishes this coming Monday.
Today's race meeting at Sha Tin will be our fifth last of the season. Among the 10 events in the race card, I will be watching the performance of Young Elite in the Lai Chi Chong Handicap. This Racing Club horse has shown better maturity towards the end of the season as he scored his fourth victory of the season four weeks ago. A record number of Racing Club members will attend our race meetings today and I also hope they can celebrate with his victory, but Best Friend and Berio should be the two runners that are capable to spoil their celebration party.
In our final pattern race of the season – the Group 3 Premier Cup – I think Tony Cruz's Dream Team should be the horse to beat if the going does not get soft. But Gallant Lion, who had a splendid win in his previous start at soft track, should give the former horse a run for the money. In the Shek Uk Shan Handicap, I think it should be an interesting battle between Grand Dancer and Danzulu, while the in-form Rocket Power may also spring a surprise to both of them.
In our final pattern race of the season – the Group 3 Premier Cup – I think Tony Cruz's Dream Team should be the horse to beat if the going does not get soft. But Gallant Lion, who had a splendid win in his previous start at soft track, should give the former horse a run for the money. In the Shek Uk Shan Handicap, I think it should be an interesting battle between Grand Dancer and Danzulu, while the in-form Rocket Power may also spring a surprise to both of them.
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