Runners from Asian jurisdictions have become a lot more active in their participation in international racing in recent years. One could easily observe this trend at the Dubai World Cup meeting last week, as Hong Kong had six runners in different races on the card while Japan had five – two of which, Victoire Pisa and Transcend, achieved a memorable one-two finish in the showpiece event.
Singapore also had three representatives at this premier racing carnival and earned some very encouraging results. Rocket Man prevailed to win the US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, consolidating his status as one of the best turf sprinters in the world. Rising star Better Be The One also fared well with his third place finish in the Group 2 Al Quoz Sprint. But surprisingly, perhaps, Better Than Ever, who had previously won 14 of his 15 career starts, finished unplaced in the Dubai Duty Free.
These achievements reflect the steadily growing quality of Singapore racing and racehorses. The Singapore Turf Club has taken active steps to upgrade its racing standards in recent years, such as adding new training and stable facilities at Kranji Racecourse, and reviving the KrisFlyer International Sprint three years ago. The latter has proved especially beneficial to raising Singapore's international profile as this 1200m race has since attracted the participation of world-class sprinters like Takeover Target and Sacred Kingdom. Starting from this year, it has also become the new third leg of an expanded Global Sprint Challenge.
This race and the Singapore Airlines International Cup, which both now have International Group One status, demonstrate to the global racing community the progress this small but important racing centre has made. And while it’s nice to see our colleagues in Singapore doing so well, their success reminds us that we need to keep working even harder ourselves to maintain Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the leading racing jurisdictions in the world.
We are also working in the same direction, as upon the completion of the Conghua Horse Training Centre in the future, it will provide some advanced and comprehensive training and stable facilities for our racehorses in Hong Kong. This mass project again reflects our strong commitments to the future development of our sport, and our determination in further lifting the standard of racing in Hong Kong.
I know that the Singapore Turf Club has already issued invitations to connections of several Hong Kong racehorses for this year's Singapore Airlines International Cup and KrisFlyer International Sprint, which take place next month. Invitees for the Cup include reigning Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby winner Ambitious Dragon, Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup winner California Memory and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup runner-up Irian. For the S$1 million KrisFlyer Sprint, both of Hong Kong's winners in the past two years – Sacred Kingdom and Green Birdie – have been invited back for another tilt. Final decisions for most of these horses are likely to made after the Audemars Piquet QEII Cup and the Sprint Cup on 1 May, so let's see how they perform there.
Tomorrow at our Sha Tin meeting we shall be hosting the Singapore Turf Club Trophy – a race that marks the long and close friendship between our two clubs. Mr Tan Guong Ching, Chairman of the Singapore Turf Club, will be our officiating guest for this trophy race. It will be great to welcome him and his Singapore colleagues back to Hong Kong.
Like all home racing fans, no doubt our visitors will be keen to see how some of the top Hong Kong runners shape up in the Group 2 Chairman’s Trophy, which tends to serve as a lead-in race to the BMW Champions Mile and APQEII Cup. This year's Chairman's Trophy line-up will include last season's APQEII Cup winner Viva Pataca and Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup winner Mr Medici, as well as Irian and some younger challengers like Flying Blue and Free Judgement. It will be an important step-up for these younger runners to secure starting places in the upcoming international events, so I'm looking forward to seeing how the race turns out.
With the expected good pace, it should give every horse a fair chance. Multiglory should be able to lead easily and be prominent for a long time, but I expect that the speed horses will come into play. Thumbs Up is working well and with the five-pound claim, he is for me the horse to beat. Irian will be returned to the mile distance this time and I hope to see him having a better performance, too. Flying Blue is in terrific form and even he is going up from a handicapping environment, he should also have a good chance to finish in the frame.
For the Singapore Turf Club Trophy handicap, the race sees the unbeaten 3-year-old California Choice try keeping his unbeaten record intact. The good pace should give every horse a chance and despite going up from Class 3 to Class 2, this young runner is still my top choice in this race. Among his main opponent, I see in Mr Celerity as he was in nice form and his rider Greg Cheyne performed impressively in 1000m races this season. It will also be interesting to see how California Moon will perform coming from Gate 10, as well as the newcomer Elegance Klammer who was himself a G3 winner in Britain before coming to Hong Kong.
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