The Derby is always a major event in any racing calendar, but I think we will find this year’s running of the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby particularly memorable because I’d like to believe we saw at least one horse who could rise to true greatness. The way Ambitious Dragon defeated a very strong field, and from the outside draw too, was quite out of the ordinary, and I would like to congratulate his owner Johnson Lam Pui Hung, his trainer Anthony Millard and his jockey Maxime Guyon for providing us with an experience none of us who were there is likely to forget.
It was an excellent Derby day in every respect with the crowd up by 7,000 on last year’s and a very good atmosphere created by fans, many of whom I was pleased to see wearing the free MBHK caps that were handed out on arrival.
We have had a series of big race days since our terrific Chinese New Year meeting in which everything seems to have come together for perfect racing. Long may that continue. The only downside last Sunday was the injury to Darren Beadman which meant he was unable to partner Xtension who ran such a fine race in second, although I doubt whether his absence made any difference to the result as the runner-up was given a perfect ride by Jeff Lloyd.
Happily Darren will have recovered in time to ride Dim Sum at the Dubai World Cup meeting at which it is very good to see Hong Kong will have six runners. Green Birdie of course has been re-routed because of the tragedy in Japan, and we must repeat all our good wishes for our friends in that country which has had to suffer so much in the past two weeks. I hope to write a bit more about our prospects at Meydan on Saturday when I have had a chance to find out how our horses have travelled and are working.
But back to the Derby winner Ambitious Dragon and the excitement he generated as every very good horse does. It is really thrilling that before his season ends and he takes his well-earned rest after six victories already he will appear once more in the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup on 1 May. Maxime Guyon, who has plenty of fine European horses to measure him against, believes he is certainly an international G1 horse in the making. All of us racing fans in Hong Kong will be hoping Maxime is right. This young rider has built himself a very strong fan base here in a very short time, and the pair will certainly be a popular team when they take on the overseas stars in five weeks time.
If Ambitious Dragon does win the APQEII Cup he will equal the Hong Kong record of victories in a season set last year by Entrapment. It was very good news, by the way, to learn that this brilliant sprinter, who is still unbeaten, has at least resumed training after the strange problem which affected one hind leg, and that so far anyway he seems as good as ever.
Meanwhile at Sha Tin this evening we have what promises to be an interesting all-weather card. It is a pity really that we can’t have this Wednesday meeting at Happy Valley to show visitors who come into town for the magnificent Rugby Sevens the party atmosphere in the Beer Garden because our neighbour the Football Club has a Rugby event tonight which, due to lease conditions, has priority.
AWT Meetings in general create more unexpected results, and one of the challenges is to find the right anchor horse. In the To Kwa Wan Handicap the pace is expected to be fast and Top Dragon as well as Solar Boy will have to work hard to come across the field from their outside draws. Despite the draw I expect to see Solar Boy and Top Dragon finish in the money. The horse I’ll be most interested in though is Buccaneer, and with his proven AW form and good recent trackwork, as well as a nice draw in Gate 5, I expect he’s going to be very hard to beat. Macho Expresso and Pegasus Supreme could surprise with both having the advantage of starting from the low draws.
The Choi Hung Handicap, which is a Class 1 event over 1650m, should be run at a good to fast pace with Penglai Xianzi as well as Windicator Returns probably having to overcome wide draws by going forward. Penglai Xianzi has a place chance for me in spite of the draw because he’s been working well on the AW, but I do have doubts about Windicator Returns’ stamina. My pick however is Ole Ole from Gate 1, although he will have dangerous rivals in King Al Akbar from Gate 2 and Mighty Sun from Gate 4.
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