Every year sees hundreds of racehorses being imported to Hong Kong and making their maiden appearances on our home turf. Though they are of different pedigree and possess different levels of ability, some will always emerge as our new rising stars and become the bright new hopes of Hong Kong racing.
This season we again have a few talented young freshmen who have already become multiple winners in their first season in Hong Kong. The one who will probably come most readily to our racing fans' minds is John Size-trained Entrapment. Since making his debut in February, this three-year-old has cruised to victory six times under champion rider Douglas Whyte and still remains unbeaten.
Manfred Man’s Tai Sing Yeh is another prolific performer as he has scored five times at Happy Valley this term. Another two young runners – London China Town and Multiglory – have racked up four winners from five starts in Hong Kong. I’m delighted to seeing these young runners doing so well and making an impact on local racing. I look forward to seeing them make further progress and perform at Group level next season.
Tomorrow at Sha Tin, both Entrapment and Tai Sing Yeh will feature in the Juvenile Sprint Trophy, with the former looking to become the first horse in Hong Kong’s racing history to win seven times in a single season. I know that some of you have suggested this elite young horse be included as one of the nominees in the Most Popular Horse voting exercise. I do take your opinions on board as these views and opinions are very useful for us. We will see whether we can enhance the current shortlisting mechanism in the future, and I fully support to review the nomination to avoid excluding horses like a six or seven-time winner in the voting list.
Although there are just four runners in the field for this terms race, I still believe it will be an exciting duel. Apart from the Juvenile Sprint Trophy, there are a few other races on the card beckon to be equally exciting. In the Community Trophy, I expect the slow pace will suit Mighty High, who should lead and dictate the pace. He is a winner in France over the distance of 2000m and he gave me the impression that going back in distance in his last start when he finished second was not ideal for him. He should perform better over 1800m plus. Queen Mother Memorial Cup winner Fat Choy Ichiban, and in-form runner Soviet Pearl, should be the main rivals for Mighty High in this race.
In the Low Carbon Handicap, there expected to be a good pace from the gate and I think Deposer, who won brilliantly in his last start over 1400m, will have a good chance to get his second win in Hong Kong tomorrow. The performance of John Moore-trained Soaring Dragon has been very consistent this season. Having a winner, a second and third place finish over 1400m this season, he should be the main challenger for Deposer. Among other runners, Outdoor Pegasus has a better draw this time. Adding to the upcoming runner Happy Prestige, I will be interested to see how these two runners perform in this event.
Once tomorrow's racing is over, though, I shall be turning my attentions back to the World Cup, as the knock-out stage of the tournament gets under way tonight. My home team Germany performed well against a determined Ghana side last Wednesday, with young star Mesut Ozil scored the only goal to help Die Mannschaft secure top place in their group and a berth in the Round of 16.
Now they have set up a mouth-watering clash with old rivals England tomorrow night. Although England disappointed in their first two group games, they showed a lot of improvement in their victory against Slovenia on Wednesday and will certainly be fired up for this key match. I know both teams are very popular among football fans in Hong Kong, but I will still be rooting for Germany and I hope they can proceed to the quarterfinals tomorrow.
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