Enterprise and discipline have long been key to success in all aspects of Hong Kong life and at Happy Valley on Wednesday night, there was more clear evidence of the benefits which can flow when hard work and opportunity collide.
The timing of Douglas Whyte’s first treble as a trainer after a magnificent career as a jockey and the three-timer that allowed apprentice Jerry Chau to outride the first portion of his seven-pound claim was more than an uplifting coincidence.
The Club prides itself on aggregating the world’s best racing talent in Hong Kong and, in that sense, what better position for an ambitious young apprentice such as Jerry to find himself than in the care of Douglas Whyte, a 13-time champion jockey?
It is early days, of course, for Jerry but, as finishing schools go, he is perfectly placed to soak up as much knowledge as possible from Douglas who, after his long and decorated riding career ended, travelled the world to absorb as much as he could from champion trainers before embarking on his career as a handler.
As with all dedicated masters, Douglas wants Jerry to learn from every experience – positive and negative – and to develop a resilience typical of the best of Hong Kong. He is doing so impressively.
By embarking on an educational riding sojourn in Australia, Jerry followed in the footsteps of Vincent Ho, Matthew Chadwick, Matthew Poon and Alfred Chan, who all developed their craft – on and off the track – by living and working abroad.
At Sha Tin on Saturday, the Class 2 Carnation Handicap over 1650 metres on the All-Weather track is the final race of the meeting with many familiar names renewing their rivalry.
Hongkong Great (Zac Purton) and Kings Shield (Derek Leung) will go forward to set a good pace. Red Desert (Antoine Hamelin), Bear Slam (Matthew Chadwick), which reared at the start in its last race, and Highland Fortune (Jack Wong) will be in close attendance.
Hongkong Great needs careful handling as he is a horse that needs to dictate the pace from the front. In his last start, the pace was too hot and it proved costly in the concluding stages. The pace in this race should be a bit more realistic and many of the top contenders are carrying big weights, two key points that work to the advantage of Hongkong Great. I make him a win and place chance.
Glorious Artist is well drawn, is a last-start winner, and has an excellent record over the track and distance. He benefited from a fast pace to win his last start and should be closing strongly as a place chance under Vincent Ho.
Preciousship ran well last start and will be ridden by Tony Piccone and is also a place chance along with Elusive State (Joao Moreira), a horse that has enjoyed much success on this surface.
On Sunday, the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup for three-year-olds is the feature of our simulcast day from Tokyo Racecourse and will be run at 2:40 pm.
There are a number of horses with promising futures in this race including a German-bred named Schell Meister (Christophe Lemaire). He is lightly-raced and turns back in trip from 2000 metres, which will likely result in him being further back in the run. This is a talented son of Kingman and I make him a place chance.
Bathrat Leon (Yusuke Fujioka) comes into the race in top form following an impressive win in a Group 2 four weeks ago. He has shown steady improvement in his career and is a win and place chance from on the pace over what looks to be his preferred trip.
Group 1 winner Grenadier Guards (Yuga Kawada), Ho O Amazon (Yutaka Take) and Rooks Nest (Hideaki Miyuki) are also place chances. There is a run over 500 metres to the turn in a mile race at Toyko and the field should sort itself out.
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