In last Saturday’s Chow Tai Fook Bauhinia Sprint Trophy – as expected before the race, Sweet Sanette was one of the horses on the speed. But this five-year-old mare held on her strong run in the final stage of the race to defeat reigning Horse of the Year Sacred Kingdom in this HKG3 event.
This was also the 17th winner ridden by her jockey Greg Cheyne this season. Interestingly, 10 of Greg’s winners are coming from the 1000m races of either Sha Tin or Happy Valley. So it’s not surprising that some local racing media are now calling him the “King of the 1000m race”.
I know some may hold the view that the mare actually stole the race after being given a 16-pound advantage from the former champion turf sprinter in the world. However, I would say in what was the first pattern race winner of her career, it was still a very creditable run and showed her improvement.
Now, apart from preparing this quality mare for the HKG2 Sprint Cup on 1 May, her trainer Tony Millard has mapped out a bold plan that should Sweet Sanette perform well in this 1200m event, he may send her to England to contest in the G1 King’s Stand Stakes in the Royal Ascot meeting in June. Her past performances indicated her great strengths in handling the straight events. But I think taking her outside Hong Kong involves a risk as she is a horse with a hot temperament. I’m not sure whether she would travel well. In the meantime, due to quarantine restrictions, she would not be allowed to train at the track, which may affect her chance to cope with the undulating slope at Ascot. Anyway, let’s see whether she can deliver another nice performance, and the subsequent decisions made by her Owner and trainer next month.
For Sacred Kingdom, it was not a downbeat performance for getting a neck second. But again, in contrast to how he performed when younger, he failed to speed past his opponents in the final stage of the race. With the Sprint Cup to be his next race, and a return to Singapore for the KrisFlyer International Sprint also soon to be on his agenda, I’ll see if he can deliver better performances in the weeks to come.
While watching the performances of a number of classy speedsters on our home turf, I also got wind of some very important racing news from Australia. Over the weekend, five-year-old mare Black Caviar has successfully extended her unbeaten record and snatched her 12th consecutive victory in the G1 T J Smith Stakes at Randwick Racecourse.
As some of you might do, I’ve watched the race replay on the Internet. This Peter Moody-trained mare settled into a handy position and delivered an impressive kick on the home straight to claim her fifth G1 win. It was an emphatic performance by this currently top-rated horse in the World Thoroughbred Rankings.
I expect many of you would like to see Black Caviar competing on our home turf. However, with the Australian authorities earlier changed their horse quarantine regulations, there is a compulsory two-week pre-export quarantine period for Australian horses returning to Australia from Hong Kong, and an additional two-week post-arrival quarantine period in Australia required when the horses return to Australia. Therefore, an Australian horse that competes in an International Race in Hong Kong must undergo a total of four weeks quarantine before it can return to normal training in Australia. This strict quarantine requirement makes such overseas race plan being realistically difficult for most Australian connections.
I think it was regretful as it means there will not have much chance for our racing fans to watch Black Caviar to race against other top-class overseas contenders, and also local hopefuls in our international races. Having said that, I believe many of you would continue to pay attention to related news and see if this Australian racing star can further extend her unbeaten record in the future.
Nevertheless, we have just announced at Happy Valley Racecourse the list of overseas and local runners who are selected to take part in the Group 1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup on 1 May. You can visit the Club’s website later today to see which other prominent overseas contenders will come to Hong Kong and challenge against Dubai World Cup winner Victoire Pisa, and also our home team which led by the likes of Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby winner Ambitious Dragon, and defending champion Viva Pataca.
We have also made some special race arrangements this week as our midweek races this evening will be held on the All Weather track at Sha Tin, while Sunday’s races will be held at Happy Valley. This will allow us to better prepare Sha Tin’s turf surface, providing a prime track condition for the BMW Champions Mile and the APQEII Cup race days in subsequent weekends. Tonight’s dirt races will also give more chances for our dirt performers to get results for their connections, as well as for other runners who have not raced on this surface before an opportunity to show their ability in these events.
I’ve spent some time to study the eight races on tonight’s card and I found that many of them appeared to be quite competitive and interesting. Say like the Lam Tsuen River Handicap (2nd section), it’s a Class 3 event with plenty of depth in the field. The expected good pace will give every horse a fair chance but I still prefer horses on the pace a bit.
Ming Hoi Glory is working very well recently and he achieved a notable runner-up finish in his maiden start on the All Weather Track in Hong Kong last November. Having drawn in Gate 1 tonight, he should have a very good chance to win this race. Perfect Fit will start from the next stall at 2. He also performs nicely in trackwork and comes from the red hot Tony Cruz stable. I think he will be a main rival to Ming Hoi Glory. Lucky Leon also showed nice improvement when he finished a close fifth in the same course and distance last time. Prepared by another in-form trainer Tony Millard and ridden by Douglas Whyte tonight, I think he can also pose some threat to other major contenders in this race. Solar Up, who made a nice run on the All Weather in his penultimate start, and also quality prospect King Of Reason, will be the other interesting outsiders in this race.
The Ho Chung River Handicap is for me the sporting highlight of the evening. The expected pace should be good, which should enable a fair chance for every horse. Flashing Aura, a key contender that I picked in this race, unfortunately developed fever and inappetence and was withdrawn from the race this morning. I think this could benefit his main rival Rich Unicorn in this race. This four-year-old has performed impressively this season as he racked up three winners and two seconds from seven starts. He also won twice on the All Weather track this season. I think he will have a very positive chance tonight. Elite Of Chiu Ton is also a runner in great form that coming from the in-form Tony Cruz stable. I think this five-year-old, as well as Caspar Fownes-trained Windicator Returns, both have nice chance to finish in the money.
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