I was excited to see the performance of Now We Can in America early this morning, running third in the G3 Belmont Gold Cup, beaten just more than two lengths. He was a fast finisher after having been eighth with 300m to run. After a close second last year and a tough field this year, I was very pleased with this effort.
Another major exhibition sponsored by the Club’s Charities Trust, Eternal Life – Exploring Ancient Egypt, commenced last week in showcasing the early civilization in the Nile Valley. The main feature of the exhibition is definitely the six Egyptian mummies who lived between 1,800 and 3,000 years ago, as well as some 200 other invaluable cultural relics from the British Museum’s collections. The exhibition is open at the Science Museum through mid-October and I highly recommend a visit.
The Club takes great pride in being able to provide Hong Kong residents and visitors with easy access to these invaluable antiquities. Apart from Egypt, ancient Rome was once the centre of a massive empire, and if you are a racing fan, any mention of Rome could easily trigger memories of the best days of Designs On Rome, who retired this week after a brilliant career.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that Designs On Rome was our strongest 2000m horse in recent years, completing a grand slam of Group 1 wins over the distance, winning the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup, the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup, the BMW Hong Kong Derby and the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup – matching the same feat achieved by another local champion, Vengeance Of Rain, a decade ago.
We enjoyed watching his trademark long run and late surge past rivals in the home straight. Although he has not been at his peak this season, he remained a most honest horse, and still scored a rousing victory in the G2 Sha Tin Trophy in his seasonal debut in October. He will be fondly missed by us all and it’s great to see him heading for his well-deserved retirement.
Racing action resumes tomorrow at Sha Tin with the Class 2 Hong Kong University Alumni Association Challenge Cup Handicap as the feature in our 10-race card. The expected pace of this 1400m race is good to fast. Adventurer is very quick away and can lead over the minimum trip of 1000m, so he should easily lead here. Midnight Rattler is likely to lead the chasing group, with Happy Spirit and The Golden Age nearby.
Beat The Clock won’t be too far behind with Lucky Ever, Little Dragon and Chater Legend in mid pack, with Happy Agility and All You Wish behind. Limitless and Gold Land are likely to be at the rear in the early stages.
Beat The Clock and Limitless, who changed stables to Caspar Fownes, are both working very well and are the favourites. Beat The Clock is a 3-year-old from the Southern Hemisphere and has a lot of potential. I could see him developing into a candidate for next season’s Hong Kong Classic Mile and, despite going up to Class 2, is my first choice.
Limitless is a 4-year-old Northern Hemisphere-bred who won at Ascot over 1600m and the good-to-fast pace should help him to relax because he tends to be keen. He should fly home at the finish and is a win chance too. Limitless has an amazing action and going back to distances from 1400 to 1600m should be ideal for him.
Gold Land is a 4-year-old Northern Hemisphere-bred who as a 3-year-old won a Listed Race at Epsom over 1400m. He took some time to acclimatise as many Northern Hemisphere horses do, but his trackwork has improved. The 10-pound claim of Matthew Poon, who is riding well, will help to be at least a place chance.
Lucky Ever is proven over 1200m in Sha Tin being a four-time course and distance winner and tries to stay the extra 200m. I see him as a place chance while the dark horse is Adventurer, who is proven over the straight 1000m with a lot of speed, and it would have to be seen that he stays the 1400m.
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