Hong Kong has a rich history of overcoming adversity and last Sunday (7 September), in the face of challenging weather circumstances, the 2025/26 season-opening meeting was a wonderful success capped by KA YING RISING’s superb victory in the Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup Handicap (1200m).
Despite the meeting being staged under a T3 signal as Tropical Storm Tapah approached Hong Kong, our staff rose to the occasion magnificently from the way the tracks team presented a world-class racing surface to the committed service of our staff to customers in food and beverage outlets to those operating in retail and digital channels as well as the excellent efforts of on-course race day staff, including veterinarians, stewards, barrier staff, outriders and many others.
Collectively, they ensured the first meeting of the new term was a resounding success with 43,259 attendees, including more than 7,000 Mainland and international tourists , allowing us to make a perfect start to the season.
The opening ceremony featuring singer MC Cheung set the scene for a vibrant day and I would like to thank The Honourable John Lee, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, for his attendance on Sunday for the traditional lion dance and eye-dotting of the lion ceremonies as well as enjoying exceptional sport and entertainment.
We are encouraged by the CE’s subsequent comments indicating that the government will collaborate with the Club to further promote racing tourism and to create more opportunities for visitors to engage with the sport, especially on major race days. This is a very positive endorsement of the Club and we look forward to strengthening our collaboration.
During an afternoon when we celebrated outstanding talent, none shone brighter than the increasingly remarkable KA YING RISING, who powered to a 13th straight win carrying 135lb, recording a fast 1m 07.63s under Zac Purton despite giving up to 30lb to his rivals.
Producing exactly the type of performance David Hayes and Zac wanted before contesting the G1 The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on 18 October, KA YING RISING was superb in the conditions with his devastating acceleration before being eased down by Zac to comfortably beat LUCKY SWEYNESSE (126lb), DIVANO (113lb) and GORGEOUS WIN (105lb).
While Zac delivered a reminder of unstinting brilliance with a five-timer, it was heartening to see the strong performance of LUCKY SWEYNESSE, who ran on well for second place in preparation for the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) on 28 September to crown a fantastic day for Manfred Man.
Manfred’s effort to win the G3 Korea Sprint (1200m) with SELF IMPROVEMENT under Jerry Chau is an incredible achievement and, while I was sceptical pre-race over how our horses would perform on the heavy sand at Seoul Racecourse, the pre-meeting rain helped compact the track and reduced kickback, which had often presented problems for our horses in South Korea.
Jerry’s rides on SELF IMPROVEMENT and also CHANCHENG GLORY, who was a narrow second in the G3 Korea Cup (1800m), were outstanding and demonstrated the quality of our world-class jockey cohort.
Jerry is a gifted rider, and it is wonderful to see our homegrown talent being given opportunities on the international stage. Jerry embraced the challenge with tremendous poise and confidence and his intelligent rides are a credit not only to him but to everyone who has helped him on his professional journey.
Tonight (10 September), we celebrate Happy Valley’s first meeting of the season with a competitive eight-race card and the launch of the Fashion Wednesdays series, where world-class racing meets high-end glamour.
The highlights of the off-track offerings in our world-famous Beer Garden will be a dazzling LED lion dance and a live performance from the immensely talented international vocal and dance sensation Rechelle Mansour.
The competitive feature is the Class 3 Wan Chai Handicap, which is carded as Race 8 and run over 1200m at 10.50pm.
The speed will be good with LUCKY PLANET (Matthew Poon) and GIANT LEAP (Richard Kingscote) likely to share the lead. MONARCH COUNTY (Andrea Atzeni) will be prominent from gate two with POWER KOEPP (Hugh Bowman) also in the leading division.
POWER KOEPP hit top form for Mark Newnham last season, winning two races and finishing runner-up three times over this course and distance and he is my win and place selection.
SOVEREIGN FUND (Karis Teetan) also finished last season on a winning note and had an easy trial recently ahead of his return here and he is a place chance from his rails draw.
DRAGON FOUR SEAS (Zac Purton) won four times over this course and distance last season, with another win over 1200m at Sha Tin. DRAGON FOUR SEAS impressed winning a recent trial and is a place chance despite drawing gate 12.
REGAL GEM (Derek Leung), STORMING DRAGON (Brenton Avdulla), GIANT LEAP, VICTOR THE RAPID (Jerry Chau), THRIVING BROTHERS (Matthew Chadwick) and MONARCH COUNTY all finished last season in good form and have claims.
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