Our annual Champion Awards gala is this Friday, followed by the distribution of the Most Popular Jockey, Tony Cruz Award and a full ceremony to celebrate our Champions at the Season Finale race meeting on Sunday. Two winners have their names firmly engraved on the trophies at this point for their record-breaking seasons, Joao Moreira as Champion Jockey and John Size as Champion Trainer. For Joao, this is his third consecutive title, but it comes with the added boost that he has lowered his own mark yet again, winning more races in a single season than any before him. To this point, the number stands at 169, but there is every reason to believe he can add a few more to that mark in our final two meetings.
For John Size, he too has simply been dominant, with 93 wins to this point, a new single-season mark, and a glowing 18% strike rate. John’s long-term success in Hong Kong is well known, having been named Champion Trainer on eight previous occasions, but the number of wins his yard has accrued this year is just remarkable. Since Tony Cruz managed a massive 91 wins in the 2004/05 season, John Size came the closest to that figure of any other Champion Trainer when 77 in 2005/06. History suggests that such a number of wins in a season is a rare feat.
My many congratulations to both Joao and John on their accomplishments this season.
After tonight’s end-of-season fiesta celebration at Happy Valley, we will have just one more meeting to go and I hope you will all join us at Sha Tin Racecourse for some tremendous fun on Sunday too. I am looking forward to the summer break, as I’m sure many of you are too. While this is the first season in which we have run 88 meetings, the total number of races scheduled is only 807. Last season, with 83 meetings, we conducted 784 races. So despite the five additional meetings, we only added 23 races to the schedule. Offering the right number and type of races is a delicate balance in order to meet the needs of our limited horse population. The summer break is a necessity for all of our horses and racing personnel to be refreshed and there is no reason to think that would change.
Tonight’s feature is Race 8, the Class 2 Sweet Orange Handicap over 1200m of the A course and it is a very competitive event with an extended ratings band of 105 to 80. Racing Supernova, with a rating of 102, takes the opportunity to be eligible for this race and it benefits a horse like House Of Fun, in that he does not have to carry top weight of 133 pounds, but instead goes into the race with a weight of 129 pounds.
The pace is expected to be good with Happy Meteor and House Of Fun both likely to be prominent in the early going. Southern Legend, drawn in Gate 12, could also be sent forward to avoid being trapped without cover. Dragon General, Racing Supernova and Flying Tourbillon should settle midfield with Lucky Ever and Verbinsky nearby. High Five will be near the rear with Super Turbo, Country Melody and Goodheart Success.
House of Fun is working very well and is ridden by Joao Moreira again tonight. Even though his only start at Happy Valley was not a success, he is, in my view, a good chance to win this race. Racing Supernova won a trial recently on June 10th at Happy Valley and should not be underestimated in his race debut at the Valley, but I prefer Super Turbo who is working very well and should finish off strongly. Dragon General, who missed the start in his last race, is an interesting outsider who should get an ideal run. Another outsider I like is High Five who did not like the good-to-yielding going last time and with a weight of 115 pounds, is a good place chance.
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