Two of our newer stars made their mark at the highest level in Sunday’s Group 1 features. Last season’s Most Improved Horse D B Pin was the first one as he made amends for his narrow defeat in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint last month, lunging past his December conqueror Mr Stunning to take the Centenary Sprint Cup.
It was a wonderful run as he travelled three wide throughout the race, but he maintained a good rhythm and managed to coast home strongly. His emergence gave further depth to our elite sprinting ranks. It was also a great win for one of our long-time jockeys, Olivier Doleuze, who has managed many big wins over his career in Hong Kong, which spans more than a decade. A three-time winner of the Hong Kong Mile, Olivier battled some physical issues in recent years but has shown he is in top form and I was very happy to see him win.
Roughly half an hour later, Seasons Bloom also earned top billing for the first time at Group 1 level. An admirable performer in last year’s 4YO Classic Series, his Stewards’ Cup win was a confirmation of the early season success he showed before a fourth in December’s LONGINES Hong Kong Mile where he came back with blood in his trachea. It was also the first top-tier success for his trainer Danny Shum since Little Bridge won the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2012.
Several of our other rising stars also ran quite well in these races, with Fifty Fifty and Southern Legend both shooting through late to claim spots in the first four of the Stewards’ Cup while 4-year-old Beat The Clock was superb in his first try in Group 1 company. It seems as though we have a solid group of talent coming through the ranks and I look forward to seeing how they all progress in the near future.
Racing returns to Happy Valley after a fortnight and we have eight exciting races on our card this evening, including two quality Class 2 handicaps. My focus will be on the first of the Class 2 events, which is the Siu Sai Wan Handicap and is our fifth race of the night, run over 1650m of the C+3 course. In this field of ten, the pace is likely to be good-to-slow, and the likely leader is The Golden Age, who has been consistently racing up front at our city track this season, with two wins and a close second in the G3 January Cup last time. Happy Spirit and Beauty Prince could both show some speed too. Solar Hei Hei will likely settle behind them with Citron Spirit nearby. Dinozzo and Marvel Hero should be in midfield with Hang’s Decision, Goldfield and Helene Charisma near the back.
This is a very competitive race and much attention will be paid to The Golden Age, who is a possible BMW Hong Kong Derby hope for his connections and has shown a great affinity for racing forward with two strong wins already and a very good second behind Eagle Way last out. He steps back to 1650m and is working well. I believe he can do it again and have him as my main win and place chance. Beauty Prince will likely be close to The Golden Age throughout and ran a very good second to our eventual Hong Kong Classic Mile second Singapore Sling over this trip in December and is also a win and place hope.
Both Dinozzo and Marvel Hero are both place chances. Dinozzo is well drawn and should save ground while racing from off the pace, though he might find this trip a bit too short for him. Marvel Hero has two wins over this trip at Happy Valley and if the pace is faster than expected, he could be one of the main beneficiaries.
Comment
