Hong Kong racing enjoyed a sensational weekend, both at home and abroad. Singapore returned to the global fray on Saturday with their first international event in three years. Kranji has long been a happy hunting ground for Hong Kong horses, and once again, we had a tremendous result as Southern Legend and Horse Of Fortune secured a Hong Kong one-two in the Singapore G1 Kranji Mile. The duo dictated the early fractions with relative ease, before Southern Legend displayed a terrific turn-of-foot to race clear from Horse Of Fortune, who closed off strongly late. It was a great win and I believe most racing fans would have been delighted with their efforts.
On our home turf, the Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup was the feature and, once again, Pakistan Star didn’t disappoint his supporters as he took the final G1 of the season. As I said before the race, I didn’t think stamina was a concern for him, and although it seemed his dash was not as strong as last start in the APQEII Cup, he still delivered a very fast sectional of 21.7s in his debut run over 2,400m. Coupled with the fact that he kept extending his lead approaching the finish and had a length and three quarters to spare at the line, it suggests he still had plenty in the tank.
Tony Cruz’s ace now looks to have matured, he is now focused on racing and he is finally realising his full potential. Judging by his performance on Sunday, I would expect he has run to a similar international rating of 120 that he achieved in the APQEII Cup, which makes him one of the elite gallopers in Hong Kong.
I spoke to winning jockey Tommy Berry after the race and, naturally, he was thrilled to win the race and extremely impressed with the way that Pakistan Star won. Tommy is one of the few jockeys to have won on Australian supermare Winx and he said that the feel that Pakistan Star gave him suggested he could end up somewhere near that level; high praise indeed. All indications are that the five-year-old is now finished for the season, but having ended the current term on such a high, I believe his supporters are entitled to hold high expectations for him next season.
Also, with the win, it brought the Hong Kong International Sale graduate’s career earnings to more than HK$35.6 million. This win pushed Pakistan Star beyond Danedream with the highest career earnings for a German-bred.
There was an interesting Classic connection with Hong Kong from Ireland over the weekend as well. Romanised, trained in Ireland by Ken Condon and owned by Hong Kong-based businessman and prominent owner Robert Ng, added his name to the list of European Classic winners, taking the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh in stylish fashion.
It was some effort after he reared up at the start and conceded a couple of lengths to his opponents in the early stages. He soon settled well at the back of the pack, before storming home down the outside in the final 300m to win comfortably. The three-year-old is a three-quarter brother to Hong Kong’s former Horse of the Year Designs On Rome – both gallopers share Holy Roman Emperor as a sire, with Romanised’s dam Romantic Venture the older half-sister of Designs On Rome. With his numerous links to Hong Kong and the talent that he showed at the Curragh, I will continue to pay attention to his race performances in Europe this season.
Racing continues at Sha Tin tonight as we have eight all-weather races on our card. The eighth race is the Clear Water Bay Handicap, a Class 3 over 1650m of the dirt and the pace is expected to be good-to-slow. Turin Pearl is likely to lead with Red Marvel near the front. Travel First should be forwardly-placed and Glorious Artist is likely to travel close behind. Remarkable, another of the market leaders for this race, will likely have to come from off the pace.
Glorious Artist established a course record during his last run over 1800m of the all-weather and he has been kept fresh for a return run over the surface for trainer Frankie Lor, albeit at just 1650m. He is working very well and has both a good draw and likely will get a great trip just behind the speed under the ever hot Zac Purton. He is my main win and place chance. Remarkable has proven a surface specialist and is unbeaten over this surface. The pace might not necessarily favour his style, but Joao Moreira could have him more forwardly placed than the speed map suggests from a good barrier in five. Naturally, he is also a win and place hope.
Royal Performer is working very well and has three placings from four runs on the Sha Tin dirt. He is a place hope, along with Hang’s Decision, whose best performance this year came two starts back over course and distance. Biz Power ran well earlier this month when beaten just two lengths at the 1650m trip and is an outside placing hope.
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