June is always the time when the international racing season moves into top gear and this year is proving no exception.
Aidan O’Brien continued his remarkable Classic record by landing his seventh Derby win with Anthony Van Dyck at Epsom on Saturday. Almond Eye had her winning streak ended in an eventful Yasuda Kinen, but her strong-finishing third behind Indy Champ and Aerolithe was a great effort considering she was badly squeezed at the start over her minimum distance of 1600m.
It was an unfortunate defeat for her thousands of fans but Almond Eye showed tremendous fighting spirit. She is clearly one of the best horses in the world and, after talking to her connections, I am still hopeful we will have a chance to see her in during HKIR in the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup.
December is a long way off but it would be great to see more Japanese stars come to Hong Kong during LONGINES HKIR week and it was also a pleasure to take part in the presentation for the annual Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy with our chairman Dr Anthony Chow at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday.
Back in Hong Kong the new month started just as the old one had ended for Zac Purton, who partnered an amazing 25 winners in May and started June with another six timer at Sha Tin. Records are tumbling for our champion jockey at the moment and, having beaten Joao Moreira’s single season prize money record on Sunday, he now needs just five more winners to break through the 1,000 barrier.
The racing action will come thick and fast for the rest of the month – including a Hong Kong first with five consecutive simulcasts from Royal Ascot starting on 18 June – but one of the great things about working with the HKJC is the diversity of what we do and that has been in evidence with a couple of important recent visits to Tai Kwun recently.
First we marked the first anniversary of this amazing integrated heritage and arts centre with a visit to Tai Kwun 101, an impressive exhibition that charts the 175-year history of the Hong Kong Police Force.
And then late last week I had the honour of attending a special preview of Murakami vs Murakami, a fascinating exhibition which showcases 60 of the most iconic paintings and sculptures created by the globally renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
The Club is committed to world-class excellence in everything we do and events such as this truly help bring Tai Kwun to life. I was blown away by what I saw. It was a truly inspirational experience and I would recommend a visit to anyone over the next three months.
Wednesday’s Class 2 Wong Nai Chung Gap Handicap over 1800m features several horses attempting to win the Club’s HK$850,000 High Achievement Bonus before time expires. The bonus is awarded to any horse rated 80 or above that can win in Class 2 before reaching the age of five. Green Luck and Not Usual Talent are two horses with a realistic chance as they enter this race in top form.
The pace will be slow with no natural leader. Charity Go and Mr So And So, a past recipient of the High Achievement Bonus, are likely to push forward from their outside barriers along with Happy Dragon and Glorious Artist. There will be no urgency during the early stages and it would not be surprising to see an early move from the back to increase the tempo.
Green Luck has the look of a Happy Valley specialist early in his Hong Kong career and comes off a good Class 3 win. He should be in close contention to the slow pace from his good draw, which will be an advantage, and he is the pick of Purton, who also rode Glorious Artist and Happy Dragon on their latest starts. He is a win and place chance.
Glorious Artist has five wins in his career with three coming on the All-Weather track at Sha Tin and two on a synthetic track at Wolverhampton in Great Britain. He has yet to win on turf, though he does have some good performances at Happy Valley. He should get the run of the race from the box seat and is a place chance.
Brave Legend is a last start winner over course and distance and does his best work at the city track. He will do his running from the back and is also a place chance along with Happy Dragon.
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