When the pivotal moments in the battle for 2020/21 Hong Kong trainers’ championship honours are reviewed, Sunday (20 June) will resonate powerfully.
Caspar Fownes’ extraordinary effort to saddle five winners and two seconds from 12 runners across 10 races pushed the ‘King of the Valley’ out to a seven-win lead over John Size with only seven meetings left in the season.
To put the achievement into context, only six trainers since 1980 have produced five winners on at a single Sha Tin meeting – John Size (four times), George Moore (three times), Caspar Fownes (twice) and David Hall, Tony Cruz and Wong Tang Ping (once each).
It was clear from the quality and quantity of Caspar’s entry on Sunday that he wanted to lodge a statement of intent and, with the G3 victories of Southern Legend and Sky Field as well as the successes of Killer Bee, Lucky Quality and Joy Master, Caspar certainly delivered on his vow.
While it is folly to write off a truly outstanding horseman such as John, the 11-time champion now faces a difficult challenge as Caspar closes in on a fourth trainers’ crown – but if anybody can do it, John can.
The jockeys’ championship, bar a miraculous surge by defending champion Zac Purton (119), is almost certainly for Joao Moreira’s (144) taking. It is remarkable to consider the two-pronged domination exerted by Zac (2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20) and Joao (2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17) over the past eight seasons.
Their achievements are further validated by the quality of rival horsemen in Hong Kong, notably Karis Teetan (73), Alexis Badel (57), Vincent Ho (54) – who has ridden more G1 wins (five) this season than any other jockey in Hong Kong – Jerry Chau (48), Derek Leung (38) and Matthew Poon (35) – all graduates of the Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School.
It is worth pointing out that several of these jockeys are enjoying breakout seasons with career-high figures.
After hosting no spectators in 2020 because of the pandemic, Royal Ascot had more familiar feel to it last week, albeit with attendance capped at 12,000 for each of the five days, but the growth interest in the World Pool was tremendous.
Year on year, World Pool commingling was up 21 percent with Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes day card producing a record single day simulcast turnover figure of HK$340 million. Records were also set on Prince of Wales’s Stakes day (HK$320 million), Gold Cup day (HK$308 million) and Diamond Jubilee Stakes day (HK$307 million).
Rain badly affected Friday’s Commonwealth Cup day card, but turnover still reached HK$280 million despite doubts the meeting would even proceed.
Overall, the figures again demonstrated the strong appeal of the World Pool offerings which allow customers from around the world to bet into a global pool that offers greater liquidity and surety of odds.
When the impact of the uncertain weather across Friday and Saturday When the impact of the uncertain weather across Friday and Saturday and the clashes with Euro 2020 matches are considered, a growth of eight percent in total turnover (HK$1,556 million), four percent in Hong Kong turnover (HK$1,145 million) and gains of 21 percent in commingling (HK$410 million), there is clearly much to be pleased about with the World Pool ahead of the G1 Takarazuka Kinen (2200m) at Hanshin Racecourse.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday night, the Class 2 Bowen Handicap is the fourth of nine races on the card and will be run over 1650 metres with only a modest pace expected. Given the forecast for rain today and this evening, it is advisable to monitor the weather because of the possible impact on track conditions.
For those looking through the catalogue for our Sunday morning Hong Kong International Sale, they will note that Holy Heart (Alexis Badel) is a full brother to lot 15, which the Club purchased at the 2019 Arqana August Yearling Sale. Holy Heart is a son of Holy Roman Emperor and has won a total of four races in his career, finding a home here in Class 2.
The Rock (Chad Schofield) and Magnificent (Antoine Hamelin) will go forward to make the running with California Rad (Neil Callan), Highland Fortune (Karis Teetan) and Green Luck (Joao Moreira) in close pursuit.
Savaquin (Zac Purton) is trained by John Size and is a horse that shows a preference to Happy Valley. He will do his running from the back and is likely to appreciate the small field of nine horses when putting in his strong finish. I make him a win and place chance but note that he will need a career-best effort.
The Rock is a last-start winner that has the versatility to race on or off the pace. He used his speed from the outside barrier to make all the running over a mile at Sha Tin and came home with a strong closing sectional. In four previous starts at Happy Valley, he has never gone forward to make the pace so this will be something new. He comes into the race in top form for leading trainer Caspar Fownes and is a place chance.
Fownes has another place chance in Green Luck, a Happy Valley specialist that will get every chance from his good draw. He will once again be closer to the pace after adding blinkers in his last start. Holy Heart showed improvement in his last start and is also a place chance.
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