After the first Happy Valley meeting of the season midweek, it was satisfying to see the Danny Shum-trained Most Beautiful leading the headlines and being the toast of racing fans, both on track and away from the course. The six-year-old became the first ever Conghua-trained horse to win, sweeping from near the rear under a well-timed Dylan Mo ride. It’s a positive start and I am delighted to see our horses from Conghua hit the ground running.
The first Happy Wednesday of the 2018/19 term also proved special for our local trainers as they performed admirably, winning seven of the eight races on the card. The likes of Me Tsui, Peter Ho and Ricky Yiu scored their first win of the season, while the terrific start for freshman trainer Jimmy Ting continued as he won with his first Happy Valley runner, Le Pegase. In addition, the homegrown jockeys have started the season strongly with six of the eight races captured by local talents, such as Derek Leung and Vincent Ho. These are very encouraging results and I hope they will continue to perform well.
Me Tsui and Derek Leung teamed up to score with outsider Noble De Boy in the second race on Wednesday. Perhaps it will prove a good omen for this trainer-jockey partnership, as both of them are now in Korea, with Me’s flagbearer Fight Hero on track to become our first overseas runner of the season when he takes part in the Korea Sprint in Seoul tomorrow.
Fight Hero is one of our most consistent dirt sprinters in Hong Kong, having won four times over 1200m on the all-weather track in the past two seasons. He hasn’t trialled early in the season in a bid to keep him fresh, so it is difficult to gauge his recent progress. He will jump from the outside gate, barrier 13, while the speed map which suggests that he will likely end up near the back of the field. Also proving something of a challenge will be the deep sand track at Seoul Racecourse, which was handled so well by the Tony Millard-trained Super Jockey when he won this race for Hong Kong in 2016 but which brought about the downfall of our two runners last year.
With all of this in mind, he has plenty of major obstacles to overcome if he is to finish in the first three tomorrow. Nevertheless, I’m sure racing fans will be cheering him on tomorrow, with the Korea Sprint our first simulcast race for the season.
I am in Seoul currently in a dual capacity, both as Chairman of the Asian Racing Federation and CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. I accompanied our Chairman, Anthony Chow, today as we presented the HKJC Trophy, which was won by Ultra Rocket for trainer An Byung Ki and jockey Masakazu Tanaka.
This is my third visit to Korea as Chairman of the Asian Racing Federation in just over six months, having been here in February and May – the most recent visit for the tremendously successful 37th Asian Racing Conference.
This year’s Korea Autumn Racing Carnival, which features both the Korea Sprint and the Korea Cup, is the third running since its inauguration. It has become a symbol of rapid growth, as well as the internationalization of Korean racing, with excellent attendances and strong prizemoney, and has created an enhanced awareness globally.
We all look forward to watching horses tomorrow from Asia, Europe and the United States as they join the best of Korea in these two feature races, which are Korea Group One races aiming to gain an international classification.
Back at Sha Tin, the Kwangtung Handicap Cup is the feature on the 10-race card. This Class 1 over 1400m, run as race two, has attracted only five starters but it is still a competitive race.
It is only a small field but the issue of which horses will lead is not clear cut. Packing Dragon appears the most logical leader as he is one-paced and riding him positively might be his best chance. Romantic Touch and Horse Of Fortune will likely follow and Jolly Banner will probably drop in behind them. Rattan is a horse with good finishing speed and his rider Douglas Whyte may bide his time at the back of the field.
Jolly Banner and Rattan have both worked very well and they are both my selections to finish in the first two. Rattan, however, has the advantage of race fitness, finishing an impressive first-up second last weekend.
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