Almost a week has passed since the staging of a magnificent edition of the LONGINES Hong Kong International Races (HKIR) and feedback continues to resonate around the world over what unfolded last Sunday (10 December) at Sha Tin.
Horseracing’s vital role in promoting Hong Kong as an international destination has been captured over the past six days with a constant stream of positive media reports across international forums which reflects favourably on Hong Kong’s world-class racing.
We were fortunate to have been trackside last weekend to watch the incredible feats of GOLDEN SIXTY, ROMANTIC WARRIOR, LUCKY SWEYNESSE and JUNKO – and their trainers and jockeys – and we are also privileged now to be in the position to absorb what transpired from a global perspective.
International perception of Hong Kong racing is one of high-quality horses, elite trainers and jockeys, global sports leadership, unflinching integrity and intense competitiveness and there is much Hong Kong racing can be proud of as we head into 2024.
Apart from the heroics of our three titans – GOLDEN SIXTY, ROMANTIC WARRIOR and LUCKY SWEYNESSE – the performances of our trainers and jockeys have been outstanding this season.
While Francis Lui, Danny Shum and Manfred Man have achieved in spectacular fashion with Hong Kong’s three champion horses over the course of the season, the performance of Pierre Ng, as a second-season trainer, has been exceptional.
Pierre leads the Hong Kong trainers’ championship with 32 wins from 188 runners – 10 wins clear of Danny Shum – and he has a winning strike rate of 17 percent after his stable’s amazing consistency with at least one winner at each of the past 12 meetings.
At only 40 years of age, and having learnt his craft under John Size, Francis Lui and Paul O’Sullivan and also international stints under David Hayes, Mick Price, Chris Waller and David Payne, Pierre is displaying the benefits of working his way through the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s development system.
Time will tell whether Pierre can win the 2023/24 title, but he has made an excellent start and he has thrown down the gauntlet to Danny (22 wins), Francis (20), Caspar Fownes (19), Douglas Whyte (17), David Hall (15), Frankie Lor (15), John Size (14) and Ricky Yiu (13) as we prepare for the 28th of 88 scheduled meetings.
On the jockey front, Zac Purton presents a familiar sight as leader in the seasonal standings with 39 wins, although by his own admission, the six-time champion has not been as dominant as in the past.
However, he still leads Karis Teetan (26) by 13 wins, while Hugh Bowman (21) is soon expected to return from injury. Angus Chung (19) has had a strong season, along with Vincent Ho (16) and Andrea Atzeni (14). Luke Ferraris (13), Lyle Hewitson (12), Brenton Avdulla (11), Alexis Badel (11), Jerry Chau (11) and Keagan De Melo (10) have all performed well.
At Sha Tin on Sunday, the feature race is the Lukfook Jewellery Cup Handicap, which is carded Race 7 at 4.10pm for Class 2 horses over 1000m with prizemoney of HK$2,840,000.
The speed in the race will strong from the start with KURPANY and WHIZZ KID the likely leaders. DREAM WINNER should be in a prominent position with WONDER KIT and PING HAI GALAXY also in the first half of the field.
INVINCIBLE SAGE was impressive under a brilliant Hugh Bowman ride, coming from the back and running through the field to beat SPARKLING KNIGHT in a winning time of 56.91S on 11 November. INVINCIBLE SAGE had won his only other run this season over the same course and distance, stopping the clock at 56.90S. Zac Purton goes aboard here and INVINCIBLE SAGE is a win and place chance despite rising in class.
DREAM WINNER won his first three career starts, all over this course and distance last season. He wasn’t beaten far in his first two runs this term before disappointing at his latest outing, fading to finish last behind HELIOS EXPRESS over 1200m on 19 November. DREAM WINNER was an impressive trial winner by a big margin on 5 December and it may pay to overlook the last start failure. DREAM WINNER is coming back to the 1000m and is a place chance for regular rider Vincent Ho.
KURPANY has had two runs over this course and distance this season, beating many of his rivals here including WHIZZ KID and CARROLL STREET on 17 September and at the other run was third to STOLTZ in the G3 National Day Cup Handicap. KURPANY has spent time at Conghua since his last start on 3 December, comes back to the 1000m straight course, and, with Ellis Wong claiming 10lb, is a place chance.
This a competitive race with proven horses such as PING HAI GALAXY, WHIZZ KID and WE ARE HERO all effective at the course and distance. CARROLL STREET is also a horse that can surprise at good odds for Douglas Whyte. All his five wins have come at the course and distance and his last win was here in February for Karis Teetan when he jumped from gate nine as he does on Sunday.
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