After a typically dynamic and entertaining opening to the 2024/25 Hong Kong racing season, we are about to enter an extremely busy phase with two Sha Tin meetings in four days as well as the G1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan on Sunday when VICTOR THE WINNER and MUGEN will represent Hong Kong.
Six meetings – and a total of 54 races – have already been staged this season and the congested nature of the both the trainers’ and jockeys’ championships illustrates how competitive Hong Kong’s world-class racing is.
In only his second season of training in Hong Kong, Mark Newnham has moved to the top of the standings with six wins, but he is closely followed by David Hayes, Danny Shum and Caspar Fownes, all with five wins, while Pierre Ng, Francis Lui and Manfred Man each have four wins.
Mark’s familiarity with Hong Kong’s handicapping system and training methods is reflected in his fine start and, after securing 31 wins in his first season, he is looking to build on that this term after being rewarded on Wednesday night (25 September) with the wins of veteran COLONEL and SPICY GOLD.
The jockeys’ standings have a familiar appearance with Zac Purton leading the way with 11 wins, but Hugh Bowman’s treble at Happy Valley on SKY SONG, NOBLE PURSUIT and ROCKET SPADE – all for Caspar – saw him move to eight victories for the season, cutting Zac’s lead to just three in the process, while Matthew Poon has excelled so far five wins, along with Matthew Chadwick (four wins).
Karis Teetan and Matthew Chadwick were again prominent at Happy Valley mid-week with a double and I would like to wish Karis the best of luck when he partners MUGEN in the G1 Sprinters Stakes on Sunday.
Hong Kong horses have previously won the Sprinters Stakes through SILENT WITNESS and ULTRA FANTASY and I am hopeful either Pierre with MUGEN or Danny with VICTOR THE WINNER – who will be ridden by Joao Moreira – can emerge victorious.
Sunday’s simulcast programme features 12 races with four races from Santa Anita and the California Crown Day from 6.37am before attention switches to Nakayama, where the first of eight races is scheduled for 11.25am.
At Sha Tin on Saturday, the Class 3 Tsuen Lok Handicap is carded as Race 9 at 5.10pm and will be run over 1600m for prizemoney of HK$2,050,000.
The pace in the race should be good. FRANTANCK (Britney Wong) led and went fast last start and VOYAGE SAMURAI (Derek Leung) also likes to lead. SWEET ENCOUNTER (Antoine Hamelin) will be close to the speed from his inside draw with SECOND TO NONE (Vincent Ho) and PRAY FOR MIR (Matthew Chadwick) also racing in the leading division.
FORTUNATE SON looked good on debut at Happy Valley on 4 July when fifth to ZOOM BOOM and again caught the eye when settling towards the rear from a wide gate and finishing strongly in the straight to finish second to SUNLIGHT POWER over 1400m on 15 September. Zac Purton rides FORTUNATE SON for the first time and, from a perfect draw in gate three and fitness improvement from that run, he is my win and place selection.
VOYAGE SAMURAI won three of his five starts in his debut season and was runner-up in the other two runs. At his last start, on 19 May, VOYAGE SAMURAI drew the outside but went forward and led throughout to easily beat subsequent winner STUNNING PEACH over 1600m. VOYAGE SAMURAI won a recent trial for regular rider Derek Leung and despite drawing a wide gate again is a place chance resuming here.
CHING is a five-time winner over this course and distance and ended last season with victory over PRAY FOR MIR on 1 July when he raced closer to the speed than he usually does. CHING resumed on 8 September over 1400m when he settled last and ran home late to finish fifth to CHIU CHOW SPIRIT. CHING will have taken natural improvement from that run and is a place chance for Lyle Hewitson.
FORTUNE SUPERSTAR ran once last season when finishing eight to CHING on 1 July when he didn’t have much luck in running and was beaten by only 2.5 lengths. FORTUNE SUPERSTAR hit the line well in a recent trial for Brenton Avdulla and he is a place chance at good odds.
VOLCANIC SPARK (Andrea Atzeni) is a last start winner and also won a recent trial in preparation for his return to racing here and can run well. SUPER LOVE DRAGON (Alexis Badel) ran well first-up and is worth consideration as is SECOND TO NONE, who raced consistently well last season.
On Tuesday (1 October), we celebrate the National Day Cup meeting at Sha Tin and I look forward to sharing this special occasion with our passionate racing fans.
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