The hottest sports talk in midweek, particularly in the football world, was on the breathtaking Champions League match between Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain late on Wednesday. Barca needed to overcome the four-goal deficit in the first leg in Paris and they enjoyed a perfect start by pulling back three goals within 50 minutes. But their hope were dealt with a severe blow when PSG scored an important away goal midway in the second half, meaning Barca must score three more if they are to advance to the quarterfinals. But Barca players made the mission possible as they did just that, adding one in the 88th minute, as well as the first and fifth minute of stoppage time. Just incredible!
I recapped the match highlights the next morning but the intensity was still remarkable, knowing what was accomplished. The moment when Barca netted their last goal they sent the entire stadium into delirium. I would say it was one of the best – if not the greatest – comeback ever seen in the football history. Such an extraordinary feat will be remembered and recalled regularly by all Barca fans many years to come.
This epic match reflected the huge attractiveness of this elite football competition in Europe. And in Sunday week, it will be the turn for our elite four-year-olds, as they will take on the challenge in the BMW Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin. Our Derby ambassador Donnie Yen, as well as several Owners and trainers, joined us in announcing the 14 selected runners for this race on Wednesday. As many expected, leading contenders such as Rapper Dragon, Pakistan Star, Beauty Generation and Eagle Way are all among our list. We all look forward to seeing these young talents produce another memorable Derby contest for our fans in a week’s time.
To me it’s very pleasing to see Pakistan Star as one of the top contenders in the Derby field. He has achieved much since emerging from the Hong Kong International Sale last year, earning a global reputation with his mesmerizing turn-of-foot. His Owner, Kerm Din, was with us at the announcement on Wednesday and expressed his thrill at just getting to this stage following his great efforts to date.
Some 31 unraced three-year-olds will also try to emulate his footprints after they are purchased by their new owners in the Hong Kong International Sale next Friday. They all showed up in our breeze-up session at Sha Tin this morning, displaying a good sense of athleticism, maturity and their readiness for race training. I enjoyed inspecting some of the horses earlier today after their breeze-ups. I wish our potential buyers every success in our sale.
Racing continues at Sha Tin tomorrow as we have 10 races on the card and the Cymbidium Handicap is a Class 2 over 1650m and is run as race 8. The pace is likely to be good to fast especially because we have two fast horses who have raced forward over shorter trips – Flying Moochi and Pablosky. Hit The Bid and Speedy Longwah should be handy to the pace as well while Apollo’s Choice could be close too. The pace should help horses coming from positions behind midfield like Packing Llaregyb and from further back like Sky King or Divine Boy and Berlini.
Packing Llaregyb is working very well and has Joao Moreira onboard and is a win and place chance in my view. My first choice is Sky King who is an upcoming four-year-old who already has two wins on the dirt track over this distance. He will have to master moving up to Class 2. Divine Boy should not be underestimated. I would discount his last start because he was found to have blood in his trachea and he is working well. Speedy Longwah’s trial on March 3 was very good and is a place chance for me. The same applies to Flying Moochi.
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