The Donnie Yen co-owned Bad Boy didn’t disappoint me for my pre-race prediction when he claimed the Class 2 Lukfook Jewellery Cup at Sha Tin last Saturday. He pulled off a dominating performance in his victory and now he could face some of our top sprinters next in the G3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy in two weeks’ time. He is certainly a horse on the rise and will be fun to follow. I had a chance to see Rouge One on Tuesday evening, as I was unfortunately unable to make the Hong Kong premiere on Monday night, and I can definitely report that Donnie’s character is definitely not that of a Bad Boy.
There’s another top local sportsman who brought much joy and delight to our sport fans at home this week. Like Donnie he is formerly an ambassador for the Hong Kong Derby, and he’s Hong Kong’s top snooker player Marco Fu. He took his third ranking tournament title in the Scottish Open in Glasgow. Having trailed 1-4 to his opponent at one stage, Marco fought back in unstoppable fashion, earning eight consecutive frames to secure the title. Well done for Marco and I wish him every success later in the second half of the snooker season.
We will also have one more race meeting before Christmas, at Happy Valley tonight and I hope you all will enjoy it. May I also wish you an early Merry Christmas. I’m sure you will spend a sweet holiday with your family and loved ones.
That’s not our sole racing arrangement during this festivity as on Christmas Day, we will also bring our fans the year-end showpiece of Japanese racing, the G1 Arima Kinen and six races from the undercard at Nakayama. Leading the high-quality field of the Arima Kinen this year will be last month’s Japan Cup winner Kitasan Black, and the champion of this race last year, Gold Actor. It will also be a crucial run for Kitasan Black, in his bid against Maurice for the coveted JRA Horse of the Year title.
The last Happy Valley race in this year is the Mercury Handicap which is a Class 2 over 1200m on the C+3 course. The pace is expected to be good to slow but I would not be surprised it could be more on the good side which would give horses coming from the back a more even chance to perform. The most likely pacemakers seem to be Dragon General and Team Fortune, who has been great on our all-weather track this season. Happy Meteor and Perpetual Treasure are both likely to track and Molly’s Jade Star is at risk of being trapped wide. Country Melody and Charity Joy should get good spots behind the speed with Verbinsky and Flying Tourbillon further back. Back In Black should be near the rear, as usual, with Super Turbo likely to be near the rear.
Super Turbo is working well and has been freshened up and despite to have come from the back, he is my first choice, especially with Moreira as jockey on board. Dragon General, with Kei Chiong and her five-pound claim aboard, should be a good chance at least for a place on the basis of his good form in his last starts. Verbinsky and Charity Joy have good Happy Valley form too and are chances for a place as is Back In Black, who has had excuses in his last start and runs first time with blinkers.
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