If you watched our Melbourne Cup simulcast yesterday, I'm sure you will have been as impressed as I was by the emphatic performance of six-year-old French raider Americain in this two-mile event. Gerald Mossé did his job perfectly as he patiently settled his horse at the back of the field, before making a dazzling run on the home straight to storm home for a famous victory. It was really an outstanding riding performance from this veteran French rider.
Americain is the fourth overseas-trained runner to win this premier Australian race in recent years, and I was delighted to hear his owners say in the post-race interview that they plan to take the horse to Hong Kong next month and participate in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase. This will be great news for all our racing fans here, and I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing how this European stayer performs on the Sha Tin turf.
Though race favourite So You Think lacked the stamina to cope with the distance, looking flat over the final 200m and having to settle for third, I think he still put up an excellent performance. As for Hong Kong representative Mr Medici, he made some good progress early on the home straight, but eventually faded and finished in 10th place. I talked with Darren Beadman after the race and he was delighted with the run. He was thinking that when entering the straight he had a winning chance, but Mr Medici does not stay the distance of 3200m and his best distance appears to be just up to 2400m.
Still, it was a very creditable performance and with his 10th place, Mr Medici brought a nice sum of A$175,000 – equivalent to about HK$1.35 million – to his owner, too. The experience of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups will have done him no harm at all, and I hope he can maintain his form ahead of our International Races next month.
Over the years, there have been fewer top Hong Kong-based middle distance runners and stayers participating in top overseas events, in comparison with our top sprinters and milers. But that doesn’t mean their quality has been any less outstanding, as horses like Dubai Sheema Classic winner Vengeance Of Rain have still managed to get notable results abroad. Having said that, I would certainly like to see more trainers and owners of top middle-distance runners and stayers map out adventurous race plans for their horses and participate in major races overseas. Not only can they seek to bring glory and fame to themselves and Hong Kong, they can also gain valuable experience by benchmarking their talents against those of top international runners.
Similarly, many trainers and Owners also took decisions and arranged their horses to participate in all-weather races at Sha Tin. A few of them got decent rewards as their runners later produced some nice results on this track. Tonight offers another opportunity for owners, trainers and our regular racing fans to broaden their knowledge and experience, as we are hosting a fully all-weather track meeting at Sha Tin, which will pit the talents of several dirt race debutants against proven all-weather track performers. I'm back now from Australia and will be there with you to enjoy these intriguing races.
Among the eight races on the card, I think the Po Leung Kuk Centenary Cup would be an interesting race. The expected pace in this 1200m race should be good, which would help Douglas Whyte’s rider Horse Galore to be well positioned from Gate 6, He has not raced on the all-weather surface but he performs well on it during training and trials. I expect him to get a good run in this race. His main oppositions should include proven dirt performer Magic Temple, and the consistent runner Century Super Star. For David Hall-trained Maelstrom, the progenies of his sire French Deputy have been doing well on this surface. The six-year-old is also training nicely recently and he’s also capable to finish close in this race.
In the Leighton Handicap, the pace is expected to be good. Being drawn in Gate 2, it should help Mighty Sun to take a good position just behind frontrunners such as Prime Champion and Taverner. I think this would give him some nice chance in this race. For his main rivals like Fortune Red Pepper, Ole Ole and Able Speed are not drawn well, but they all are in nice form and I think they will still give Mighty Sun a great test. Ben So’s ride Needles And Thread was drawn to start from Gate 1. The horse only needs to carry 106 pounds and I think he can also be a dangerous opposition, too.
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