The equestrian events of the Guangzhou Asian Games have continued to attract attention over the past few days. I was delighted to see the excellent performance of our Jockey Club-sponsored riders in Monday's team jumping event, where Hong Kong took the bronze medal and came close to claiming silver. It was a historic moment as this was Hong Kong's first-ever equestrian medal at the Asian Games. Two of our top riders Kenneth Cheng and Jacqueline Lai will have a further chance to show their talent when they contest the individual jumping event today. Let's hope they can bring Hong Kong some further glory.
Meanwhile last Sunday at Sha Tin, we witnessed two very enjoyable and fascinating step-up events to our International Races – the Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Mile and Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint. The participating horses fought their hearts out in both races, which to me highlights the level of competitiveness we can expect to see in our four international Group 1 events next month.
In the Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Mile, with Darren Beadman on board, Able One did well to dominate the pace in the early stage of the race – far more easily, in fact, than I'd expected. It gave this classy miler a great advantage and he made good use of that in style to secure his first Group victory of the season. Having said that, the runner-up Thumbs Up and fifth placed Viva Pataca also ran nicely and I’m confident they can deliver competitive performances in the main events on 12 December.
The Cathay Pacific Jockey Club Sprint was even more exciting with Singapore's champion sprinter Rocket Man and our home speedster One World sharing the honours and stakes money in a dead heat finish, a great rarity for a local group event. The performances of co-winner One World, and the “Rising Star" Little Bridge, who ran third in his first appearance in Group level, also looked promising. I will be interested to see if the latter will be selected for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint on 12 December. As for Sacred Kingdom, his performance was a bit disappointing as he only managed a fifth place finish. But I don't think this reflects his true ability, and I believe he still has a fair chance of reversing the result in the main event next month.
Personally, I was quite surprised to see Rocket Man, a horse who has racked up 11 wins and 3 seconds in his 14 career starts, sent off as a 17-1 chance in the local pools. This prolific sprinter proved he can handle a right-hand track, underlining his credentials for the International Races with this first overseas success. I talked with some of my media friends afterwards and they told me that in Singapore, Rocket Man’s win odds were far shorter at just 3.4-1, probably because their racing fans were keen to offer support to their home runner. Likewise, the quinella odds on Rocket Man and One World in the Singapore Turf Club’s simulcast pool were 43.5-1, less than half the 97-1 odds in Hong Kong.
This once again reflects the potential benefits that could be brought about by commingled pools. If the betting money invested by Singapore racing fans on Rocket Man were injected into our pools in Hong Kong, they would have enjoyed better dividends on this occasion. At the same time, it would have increased our total racing turnover, thus generating more tax revenues for the public purse, and more money for the Club's charitable donations. Commingled pools can also remove the hedging opportunities that illicit bookmaking syndicates can gain by capitalising on the odds difference between the two places.
It's ironic that on the Club's behalf, I was the very first person to raise this idea with our overseas racing counterparts, at international racing gatherings some five years ago. Yet while some our of regional partners have already taken action and set up commingled pools over the past year, we are still in a stalemate in this area of development. I’ve repeatedly mentioned here in my blog the merits and benefits of bet commingling, and its significance to the future development of our racing business in Hong Kong. We cannot afford to keep overlooking this topic, so I hope the Government can recognise its importance and actively consider the feasibility of commingling in the near future.
Tonight at Happy Valley we will unveil the list of overseas and local runners selected to run in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races in three weeks’ time. So please come along this evening to find out which other top-class overseas horses will be joining Rocket Man and Americain for a tilt in Hong Kong next month.
Apart from the selection announcement, the eight races on the programme are also quite interesting. In the Dumbarton Handicap, I expect there will be a good to slow pace. I think Dream Team would take the lead even he was drawn Gate 9. With the pace suiting him, as well as his good track work and being down in class, I think he will have chance to finish close in this race. John Size’s Ride With The Wind is nicely drawn. He can be placed in an ideal position and is for me the horse to beat in this mile event. I would also expect strong runs from the in-form Happy Tumbler and Gerald Mosse-ridden veteran Express Win.
In the St. Andrew's Challenge Quaich, there will be a hot contest with an expected fast pace. Being drawn in Gate 1, it will give Romantic City the ideal position and run on the rail, which favours horses on the C+3 course. I think he will be a key contender in this race. First in Command and Glenealy Star are also in sizzling form and will be Romantic City’s main opponents. New Zealand import Eternal Beauty, who delivered some nice performances at the end of last season, has shown nice progress in recent trackwork. It will also be interesting to see how he performs first up!
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