I was glad to see our apprentice jockey Matthew Chadwick regain his form and confidence at our Happy Valley meeting last Wednesday evening, when he brought home three winners – his first successes since he was dislodged from his mount during a race at Sha Tin last month. It was a nice treble for him and I hope he can keep up the momentum in future meetings.
As Brett Prebble also put in some nice performances, we had a very heated contest for the Jockeys' Challenge on Wednesday. It was a wire-to-wire contest between these two talented riders, which was only decided in the very last race when Brett prevailed over Matthew by just a head to land his third winner of the night and seal his third consecutive victory in the Challenge.
I have been very pleased to see this exciting betting pool become more mature this season, receiving steady support from our racing fans. We make regular reviews of our different bet types and pools, and quite a lot of racing fans have suggested to us that we delay the stop selling time of the Jockeys' Challenge, as it can sometimes be keenly contested right up to the final race. We think this should be feasible, so we've now decided to extend the last sales from Race 6 to Race 7 for day meetings, and from Race 5 to Race 6 for night meetings, starting from our Sha Tin meeting tomorrow. We hope this change can better meet your needs and I hope you will all continue giving Jockey Challenge your strong support.
Tomorrow's meeting will also see two more International Trial races taking place on the Sha Tin turf, giving our trainers the opportunity to gauge the latest progress of their top runners ahead of the main showdown next month. This year we've opened the trial races to overseas contenders, so as to give them a step-up race in Hong Kong and help them adapt to the local environment ahead. The Cathay Pacific International Mile Trial will feature the first such runner tomorrow, with last year's Hong Kong Cup winner Eagle Mountain facing the likes of Good Ba Ba, Egyptian Ra and Sight Winner.
However, I was disappointed to learn that International Sprint Trial contender Scenic Blast was found to be lame in his forefoot on Thursday and has been forced to withdraw from tomorrow's event. This Australian sprinter has been enjoying a very successful season and now stands at the top of the Global Sprint Challenge leaderboard after he garnered victories in the Lightning Stakes in Australia in January and the King's Stand Stakes in England in June. But he lacked a bit of luck in his excursion to Japan for the Sprinters' Stakes in October, as he stumbled in the race and finished last. Although he'll be absent for our event tomorrow, I hope he can recover in time and return to his best in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint next month.
Anyway, the two International Trial events tomorrow are the races you shouldn't miss. In the Cathay Pacific International Mile Trial, the big question mark is how fit and how good the two defending CXHKIR champions – Good Ba Ba and Eagle Mountain – are and I will be paying special attention to Able One and Fellowship as both the two seven-year-olds had no clear run until the 150m in their last outings. If they enjoy a clearer run tomorrow, I would not be surprised if both of them finish in the first three.
In the Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial, Sacred Kingdom trialled brilliantly and should be the horse to beat. However, I would not be surprised to see Inspiration as well as One World testing the reigning HK Champion Sprinter. Especially One World, he is a model of consistency and, similar to the upcoming Happy Zero, will carry 5 pounds less than Sacred Kingdom and Inspiration. Let's see if the new kids on the block can challenge the established champions.
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