Ten meetings into a new season seems a fair point at which to assess developing trends and two of the most striking have been confirmed again this week.
Despite strong headwinds caused by a pandemic that has tested all major sports like never before, it is gratifying to report that the interest in Hong Kong racing both at home and abroad has seldom been higher.
Turnover for Wednesday’s Valley meeting showed striking year-on-year improvement again and the value of the Racing Bubble we created more than eight months ago continues to pay dividends for everyone involved in the sport professionally and for society in general.
In addition, a long-term investment in our racecourse and training centre at Conghua is also coming into its own during its third full season. Quantity and quality are the key factors behind maximising the potential of such a huge venture and, with 16 trainers and almost 300 horses now making use of the exceptional Conghua facilities, the results are speaking for themselves.
Wednesday saw Naboo Star and Ares become the 28th and 29th Conghua winners from just 92 races run this season and another 23 contenders will make the 200km journey down from our Mainland base for Sunday’s Sha Tin fixture.
Frankie Lor and Caspar Fownes have led the way with four Conghua winners each, while Francis Lui has already had three Conghua successes in his first season with horses there.
Also, there is no question that the second site factor played a huge part in Ricky Yiu’s trainers’ title win last season. Ricky is using Conghua as the main base for some of his very best horses – including Mighty Giant and Voyage Warrior – and it will also be fascinating to see if Tony Cruz’s decision to send 2019 BMW Hong Kong Derby winner Furore there for a lengthy spell pays off this season.
The next few months will also see significant enhancements made to the experience that customers enjoy in Off-Course Betting Branches and it was my pleasure this week to get an advance viewing of a particularly interesting development which is set to launch on Monday when our Electric Road branch in North Point re-opens.
This is a two-storey facility of almost 15,000 square feet in prime location which has undergone a holistic refurb to make it the first Club’s OCBB to integrate a betting shop with over 120 seats, comprehensive wagering facilities, video walls and a live football zone with a retro-styled Wins Café similar to the ones that have been so popular in supplying authentic Hong Kong food and beverage at both our racecourses.
Each table will be equipped with a TV, allowing customers to enjoy exciting races with all the latest racing info at their fingertips, and this is another important step in helping deliver a brand new betting experience that brings as much of Hong Kong’s world-class racecourse experience to our off-course customers as we possibly can.
Sunday’s Class 2 Chak On Handicap is the race of the day, a 1200m test that features many promising sprinters. The pace will be good with Team Spirit, Good Luck Friend and Armando going forward with California Rad, Lucky Express and Shining Ace in close pursuit.
Good Luck Friend will benefit from his first up run and is a horse that showed plenty of potential as a three-year-old last season. He will need to be at his best to beat this field and is a win and place chance to do so under Derek Leung.
Lucky Express comes out of the same race as Good Luck Friend and got his measure with a strong final sectional. He is in top form and is a solid win and place chance for Vincent Ho as he overcame a tough trip from wide in stall 11 to win two weeks ago and is drawn better in 2 this time. Winning Method and Band Of Brothers will be closing ground in the straight and both are place chances.
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