Sunday’s trio of Sha Tin features delivered a flood of highlights, crowned by Golden Sixty’s dramatic victory in the G1 Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup, Alexis Badel’s cerebral ride on Healthy Happy in the Hong Kong Classic Cup and John Size’s 1,300th Hong Kong winner with Waikuku in the G1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.
While those races stimulated plenty of discussion around Golden Sixty’s 13th successive win – a phenomenal achievement – the improved performances of Russian Emperor and Shadow Hero heading to next month’s BMW Hong Kong Derby and Size’s continued excellence, the presence of more than 1,600 race-goers at Sha Tin was extremely heartening.
Racecourses without people deprives our sport of a crucial vibrancy and excitement. The absence of attendees is, of course, a consequence of COVID-19 and the Club remains committed to world’s-best biosecurity protocols, both at the track and at our Off-Course Betting Branches in the face of the pandemic.
While we remain cautiously optimistic of eventually being able to host more race-goers, the Club is steadfast in its approach to the welfare of all our participants. Hopefully, we can soon accommodate more of our valued members and supporters.
Returning to racing, the BMW Hong Kong Derby picture remains in something of a state of flux ahead of the 21 March Classic at Sha Tin. As it was last year when Golden Sixty prevailed in it, the Hong Kong Classic Cup should again prove a key form reference – but the hunt for clues this year is certainly more complex than previous years.
There were a number of runners behind Healthy Happy, Russian Emperor, Shadow Hero and Excellent Proposal who did not have the best of luck, notably Lucky Express and Sky Darci. Both these horses remain very much in Derby calculations.
This year’s Derby is already shaping as one of the more intriguing with no dominant favourite. At this stage, Tourbillon Diamond and Excellent Proposal are still my current favourites for the BMW Hong Kong Derby.
Midweek racing returns to Happy Valley on Wednesday for a nine-race card featuring two strong Class 1 contests and the climax of the popular DBS x Manulife Million Challenge, with two horses – Grateful Heart and Scores Of Fun – vying for the HK$650,000 first prize.
Grateful Heart tops the table with 66 points and leads Scores Of Fun (57 points) by nine. Under the scoring format of 15 points for the win, six for second, four for third and three for fourth, Scores Of Fun will need to win the penultimate race of the night, the Class 3 Sing Woo Handicap (1200m), to claim overall honours.
If Grateful Heart wins or runs second in the Class 1 Blue Pool Handicap (1200m), the sixth race on the programme tonight, he will hold an unassailable lead – regardless of what Scores Of Fun does two races later.
A second placing by Grateful Heart will also ensure overall victory under the countback system – even if Scores Of Fun wins and draws level on points – because he has posted more wins in the series (four victories so far to Scores Of Fun’s two).
Grateful Heart (Zac Purton) has earned his owners a HK$1 million High Achievement Bonus (HAB) when winning in Class 2 earlier this month. He has moved up 31 points in rating and HK$5.3 million in earnings this season and can pick up an additional HK$500,000 top-up bonus with a win here as part of the HAB scheme for a potential pay day of HK$2.86 million.
With the late scratching of Classic Unicorn, Grateful Heart will make the running with Beauty Applause (Joao Moreira) and Amazing Star (Antoine Hamelin) in close contention. The pace will be good.
Sky Field (Alexis Badel) is in light and draws the inside gate on the C+3 track. He will settle midfield and should get every opportunity as a win and place chance in a very competitive race. Beauty Applause and Grateful Heart are both in career-best form and will be in the mix from the jump. Both are place chances along with Stronger (Vincent Ho), a horse that will benefit from class relief after four straight runs at Group level.
In the eighth race, Scores Of Fun (Vagner Borges) will go forward from his good draw to set a honest pace in company with Hinchinlove (Derek Leung). Kurpany (Joao Moreira) and Handsome Bo Bo (Alexis Badel) will be in the next flight.
Kurpany is working very well and remains in great form with two wins from his past three starts. I make him a win and place chance despite stepping up to 1200m for the first time, while Joao continues to ride in tremendous form.
Racing Fighter (Zac Purton) drops in grade and after meeting tougher opposition over the past two months. He is well drawn and should get a nice run from behind the speed and is a place chance.
Scores Of Fun and Hinchinlove are both last-start winners. Scores Of Fun overcame a difficult run to win a tight photo, while Hinchinlove is coming off the best run of his 25-race Hong Kong career and they both are place chances.
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