The Asian Games equestrian events at Conghua came to a successful conclusion last Wednesday. The final day's competition was the individual jumping event, in which three Hong Kong riders were originally due to participate. But I learnt in the morning that our Club-sponsored rider Patrick Lam had decided to withdraw from the event, as his horse Jockey Club Tilburg had suffered tendon inflammation in its right fore.
Obviously he was very disappointed, as we all were, but I think Patrick made the right decision as he doesn't want to risk long-term injury to the horse, with which he is also aiming to train and qualify for the London 2012 Olympics.
Despite Patrick's absence, I think our other Hong Kong riders did a good job, with Kenneth Cheng finishing 12th in the event and Jacqueline Lai recovering well from a nervous start to place 14th, after riding a perfect round in the second stage. It should be emphasised that the standard of competition at the Asian Games is very high indeed, especially among the Middle Eastern teams, who often enjoy strong support from their royal families and have incredibly expensive horses.
In this context, Hong Kong's achievement in collecting the bronze medal in the team jumping event is really an outstanding effort, and a big breakthrough for the sport here as it's Hong Kong's first-ever equestrian medal in the Asian Games. I feel sure that our riders will have learnt a tremendous amount from this top-level experience and will be able to win more medals in regional or international events in the future.
Gaining exposure at international level is always valuable in broadening the vision of young athletes and boosting their career development. Today in Japan, one of our promising young jockeys will feature in an international jockeys challenge series, as Matthew Chadwick has been chosen to represent Hong Kong in the 24th World Super Jockeys Series hosted by the Japan Racing Association. Although he acquitted himself admirably in the Cathay Pacific International Jockeys’ Championship last year, and also rode in the 2009 Asian Young Guns Challenge, an apprentices' race at Flemington Racecourse in Australia, this will be the first time he has competed in a top-level international jockeys' series overseas. It will be wonderful if he can deliver some good results in front of the Japanese racing fans at Tokyo Racecourse today.
In fact on Friday, I was in the Beijing Clubhouse to officiate the opening ceremony of the Club’s first charities and community exhibition held at the capital. Entitled "Think Small, Live Big!", the exhibition features the amazing social impact of nanotechnology, and how the technology is being applied and affected our lives in different ways from health and medicine to energy, consumer goods to the environment. Through highlighting the research work and achievements in this area by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which was built by the HK$2.5 billion contribution of the Club in 1991, we also introduce the social effects and impacts induced by the Club’s significant charity contributions in Hong Kong over the years.
After the ceremony, I flew from Beijing to Tokyo this morning to attend the Japan Cup here tomorrow. I am in Japan now but unfortunately could not arrive in time to go to the races to see Matthew’s performance and give him my support in person. Despite that, I know Matthew’s rides have earned some nice draws in the three races, and I trust he will perform his very best in this series.
Tomorrow, the Club will simulcast the Japan Cup live for our racing fans in Hong Kong. This premier Japanese racing event is in its 30th running this year and has served a pioneering role in steering the country's racing to the international level. It offers a great chance for top Japanese runners and jockeys to test their ability against high-quality overseas contenders on the Tokyo turf. In past years, prominent European entrants have included Arc winners Montjeu, Helissio and Urban Sea, as well as Cartier Horse of the Year Award winners Fantastic Light and Ouija Board.
In 1999, our then champion stayer Indigenous was among the challengers and finished a very creditable second, ahead of High-Rise and Montjeu. Although there are no Hong Kong runners in this year's US$5.3 million event, there should still be a lot of interest for our local form-watchers, as three of the entries have also been selected for our Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races in two weeks' time, namely home runner Jaguar Mail, Cirrus des Aigles of France and Joshua Tree of Ireland. I'm looking forward a lot to see how they perform.
It must be noted, though, that the home team has been dominant in the Japan Cup in recent years. They appear to be very strong again in this year’s race, fielding Arc runner-up Nakayama Festa and Dubai Sheema Classic runner-up Buena Vista. I believe the eight overseas runners this year will first have to see off the challenge of these two prolific runners before getting a good result in this year’s event. Buena Vista is set for this race and I think she will be difficult to beat, even with the strong performance of Nakayama Festa’s second on the Arc. Two upcoming Japanese three-year-olds, Japanese Derby winner and runner-up Eishin Flash and Rose Kingdom, will be the other major contenders in this race.
As well as the Japan Cup simulcast, there will be a full programme of 10 local races at Sha Tin tomorrow. I shall be closely following the replays on the Club’s website to see how these races turn out. I’ve done some pre-race studies and in the Chevalier Cup, the race is expected to be run at a fast pace which will help horses coming from the back of the field. Having drawn Gate 1, Aashiq will go forward and try to lead but will come under pressure from other frontrunners like Tuscan Spirit, Blaze King and Berio. I think Aashiq and Berio would have good chances to run close and get a placing. California Memory was in sizzling form. He is the horse I like most and I will see if he can get his third consecutive win over the distance of 1400m. London China Town will be going up in this distance for the first time, and he may now need further. Meanwhile, I would not be surprised to see a better performance from Fleet Command as past performances suggest he prefers fast run races more.
In the Chevalier Lifts & Escalators Handicap, you will see the first start of Corporal Jones, who finished second in this season’s New Zealand Derby and for me one of our hopefuls for the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby 2011. His recent performances in barrier trials have been good and I expect him to run a good race. However, I think he needs this race and the expected good to slow pace would not give much help to him. The pace would also be not ideal for our Rising Star Admiration, however, I think he has further potential and he still has a good chance to win this race. Sichuan Success should be one of the runners who may be benefitted from the expected pace. Along with Super Boy, who is an Australian Group 3 winner at 1400m and from Manfred Man's stable which is finding form, these two horses can also finish close in this event.
Comment
