The challenges of 2020 continue and the Club has acted swiftly in light of recent worrying Covid-19 developments.
Our guiding principle has always been that none of our activities should pose a risk to our staff and customers. The risk situation has changed, therefore we have to scale down our operational activities step by step. We hope for the understanding of our customers in regard to the following decisions.
· For the next four meetings, starting this Wednesday, the only people allowed on the racecourse besides essential officials will be owners with starters and their family members with official bookings approved by the Club.
· OCBBs will be closed for daytime race meetings, while for night fixtures they will open from noon until 5.30pm.
Racing continues to act as a very welcome distraction during testing times and Sunday’s Sha Tin card showed that Hong Kong’s best are primed and ready for this year’s LONGINES HKIR.
The international entries for our December showpiece have been revealed today and they include 15 overseas raiders and 17 G1 winners including international stars such as Magical, Mogul and Danon Premium, along with the Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Order Of Australia and two of Japan’s 2019 HKIR heroes in Admire Mars and Win Bright.
To attract horses of this calibre to Hong Kong in any year is notable but to have them coming here at the end of a year when international racing has been rocked by a pandemic with all the attendant travel and quarantine issues is remarkable.
The fact that Aidan O’Brien will be so well represented again with five entries this year pays a huge tribute to the enterprise and sportsmanship of the Ballydoyle team and their presence here at the end of such a turbulent year confirms HKIR’s continued status as one of the great global racing occasions.
As ever, we look forward to extending a very warm welcome to our visitors – even if this year it will be a socially distanced welcome as they enter our specially created HKIR Racing Bubble – but after Sunday it’s clear that they will face a stern challenge on 13 December.
Last year’s Hong Kong Sprint runner-up Hot King Prawn showed he is ready for the challenge of Classique Legend and company with a typically brave win in the Jockey Club Sprint, while Furore and his stablemate Exultant put down solid markers for the Hong Kong Cup and Vase by dominating the Jockey Club Cup.
And what more can one say about Golden Sixty? Last season’s Derby winner became just the fourth horse in Hong Kong history to win ten races in a row and he accomplished the task in familiar style in the Jockey Club Mile, moving powerfully from start to finish under Vincent Ho and settling matters with yet another sub 22s closing sectional to come within 0.27s of the 1600m track record set by Beauty Generation in this race two years ago.
As a Privately Purchased Griffin with an owner, trainer and rider who are Hong Kong through and through Golden Sixty represents all that is good about racing in this unique city.
Francis Lui’s gelding has been the ultimate ‘Racing Bubble’ horse throughout 2020 – winning six major races while crowds have been restricted – and it would be fitting indeed to see him crown this unique year by showing his amazing talent to the world in the Hong Kong Mile next month.
The Class 2 Chai Wan Kok Handicap over 1000m is the seventh race of the night and will produce a fast pace with Multimillion, Classic Unicorn, Larson, Baltic Success and California Concord all expected to go forward.
Hong Kong Win has been unlucky this season in his three races to date but figures to get every opportunity here from his good draw. He will settle just behind the speed and is a win and place chance in his current form under Joao Moreira.
Classic Unicorn is also at the top of his game, having won first up despite a demanding run in which he travelled wide and without cover for most of the trip. He has drawn the inside barrier on the C+3 course, which will prove advantageous, and he is a place chance along with Larson and Multimillion.
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