As a world-class racing club, we act continuously for the betterment of society and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day is an opportunity to highlight the Club’s long-standing and successful partnerships with Government departments, non-government organisations (NGOs), community groups and academic institutions in support of Hong Kong’s social needs.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy Handicap was first run in 2005 as the feature race of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day, an annual meeting introduced to celebrate the Club’s many partnerships with wonderful organisations striving to address the city’s vital social needs.
The Club’s support for its project partners goes well beyond financial and we are proud to help initiate and co-create programmes targeting emerging or unmet community needs, while also building capacity in the community, especially those involving volunteerism.
Over the past ten years, more than 4.5 million people have benefited from volunteer projects supported by the Club’s Charities Trust and we are committed to building and expanding on this.
The Honourable Chris Sun Yuk-han JP, HKSAR Secretary for Labour and Welfare, will present today’s winning owner of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy Handicap with a magnificent trophy – an intricately-decorated sterling silver claret ewer – which was first presented at Happy Valley in 1852 to the winner of the Wongneichong Stakes.
The 2023 Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy Handicap is carded as race 4 at 2.30pm and will be run over 1200m for Class 3 horses. The pace will be good with Naboo Legend, who has blinkers for the first time, likely to lead for Matthew Poon from Valiant Elegance and Luke Ferraris and Pulsar Strider for Lyle Hewitson.
An interesting newcomer is O’Liner for Benno Yung. To be ridden by Antoine Hamelin, O’Liner won the G2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) for two-year-olds in 2021 and led all the way to win a recent Sha Tin trial under Zac Purton.
Zac stays with Golden Express after his impressive last-start win over this course and distance and I make him my win and place chance selection. Euro Rocks, for Vincent Ho, was unlucky on debut and is a place chance, along with Victory Moments, who made good ground from midfield under Matthew Chadwick last start and is ready to improve further.
The Club’s bonus scheme for PPs, PPGs and Hong Kong International Sale graduates continues to provide excellent returns on investment to owners and Encountered’s Class 2 win at Happy Valley on Wednesday night took the total amount of bonuses paid this season to HK$50 million.
In adding a HK$1 million PP Bonus to the HK$1,653,000 prize money he earned for winning, Encountered became the 47th horse to claim a bonus in 2022/23.
Three PP horses – Adios, Mr Ascendency and Red Lion – have each claimed two HK$1 million bonuses this season by winning their first races in Class 3 before turning five when rated 60 or above and then subsequently winning again in Class 2 or above when rated 80 or higher.
These wonderful returns are a direct result of the Club’s comprehensive revamp of the prize money and bonus schemes and are also evidence of the Club’s commitment to owners.
With 26 meetings still remaining this season, 16 horses are eligible to join the Bonus honour roll if successful at Sha Tin on Saturday, when the Nurturing Talent Handicap is carded as Race 9 for Class 2 horses over 1200m at 5.10pm.
The race features some of the most exciting emerging sprint talent we have in Hong Kong including Victor The Winner, Howdeepisyourlove and Goko Win – with the latter pair chasing HK$1 million bonuses for connections.
The speed in the race is certain to be good with natural front runner Nervous Witness drawn ideally in gate three. Howdeepisyourlove will be in the forward group from gate four and Victor The Winner on speed from his draw. Winning Dreamer and Ka Ying Master also like to race close to the pace and Oriental Smoke will push up from his rails draw.
Adios has drawn the outside gate and although he usually races on the lead it will be interesting to see if Derek Leung goes forward or decides to try and take a position midfield, one off the fence. Adios is yet to win on turf at Sha Tin but comes into the race off an impressive All-Weather Track victory over Goko Win on 29 March and is a place chance.
Goko Win gave Adios the first run in the straight and then charged late to eat into the margin when runner-up last start. At his previous start he was very impressive storming home to win running away from Magniac over this course and distance. Goko Win will be suited by a fast pace and if he can get clear ground early enough in the straight is a place chance.
Howdeepisyourlove is having his eighth run in his first season of racing and comes to Sha Tin to race for the first time. He could have won by a much bigger margin last start at Happy Valley when Karis Teetan eased him down in that last 100m to cruise to a dominant win. Howdeepisyourlove rises in class but has a perfect draw and is a place chance.
Victor The Winner could hardly have been more impressive at this last start when he flew the gates and led and cruised to the line to beat Packing Treadmill over this course and distance on 19 March, taking his record to four wins from six starts. Victor The Winner has drawn gate nine and will take a sit here in the moving line for Zac Purton. He is an exciting talent and is my win and place selection.
This is a very deep race with Trillion Win, Carroll Street and Nervous Witness all capable of finishing in the placings and it provides a stiff test for some of our most promising sprinters heading towards future success at the highest level.
Comment
