Hi all, with today being the third day of the four-day long Easter holidays, I hope you have all much enjoyed your time with your family and friends. Tomorrow on Easter Monday we will be offering you some exciting international racing action at Sha Tin Racecourse, as the international Group 1 BMW Champions Mile will be the attraction to light up our home turf.
This mile event does not have a very long history as it was first run as a Hong Kong Group 1 race in the 2000/01 season, and this year’s will only be the 11th renewal of the race. But its status has ascended quickly since it was opened to international competition in 2005, and since in the same year, along with the Yasuda Kinen in Japan, it became part of the inaugural Asian Mile Challenge series. When it was promoted to international Group 1 status in 2007 the Club made changes to its scheduling and re-arranged it to be held earlier in late-April, which meant it came about four weeks after the Dubai World Cup meeting.
That change helped us to build up a strong link between this mile race and the Dubai meeting, and it also encouraged European runners to come to Hong Kong after racing in Dubai in late-March as it fitted better with their programmes at home. It has been very successful over the years and this year again we have three runners of very high quality who come here to contest the race after very sound performances on Dubai World Cup night. Furthermore, overseas competitors such as Presvis or Musir are in a more comfortable position because they have to make only one long haul flight from the Middle East to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, the attractiveness and high prize money on offer at the Dubai meeting also entices Hong Kong horses to Dubai. It’s great to see them racing there for the pride and honour of Hong Kong. But in general, their doing so does have a negative impact on their chances of winning the BMW Champions Mile or indeed the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup, as they have to make two long distance trips between Hong Kong and Middle East within a short period of time. So after they return to Hong Kong the horses will have no more than two or three weeks’ recovery and preparation time before the spring international events at Sha Tin.
The same factor also explains why it’s rather difficult for us to attract runners trained in Japan – no matter for those who come from Dubai or others who depart to Hong Kong from their home soil – to join our races. The reason is that apart from having to make two trips from and back to Japan, the horses will also be required to stay in quarantine, instead of in the training centre, after they returned to Japan. This requirement could probably affect their pre-race preparation and jeopardise their winning chances in the Yasuda Kinen in June.
That’s one reason why I have my reservations about Beauty Flash and am not very optimistic about his chances on Monday - and on top of that he has to come back in distance from the 1800m of the Dubai Duty Free to the mile tomorrow. I also heard that its connection is mindful of the horse’s possible mucopus issue since returning to Hong Kong, but I believe his trainer Tony Cruz and our vet will monitor his condition closely.
Despite that, this horse has been in peak form this season and has already won three Group 1 events in Hong Kong so I’m hopeful that he can deliver another nice performance tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I know that some of you may be slightly disappointed with the line-up of overseas runners in the BMW Champions Mile and APQEII Cup, as each race now has only three overseas runners, with other high-profile invitees such as Cape Blanco, Victoire Pisa, Melito and Red Jazz having all withdrawn from the races over the past fortnight.
I can tell you that the connections of all these horses are very eager to send their runners to Hong Kong for the two events, and with their expected participation, the original line-ups definitely had a stellar and very exciting look to them. Unfortunately, factors such as minor health setbacks, strict quarantine requirement by the Australian authorities and flight arrangement, have prevented their arrival this time. These definitely also includes Dubai World Cup winner Victoire Pisa, who himself had already begun his preparation at Sha Tin before he suffered a minor knock and had to be withdrawn from the APQEII Cup.
Still, that’s racing and most horsemen who involve in international racing would understand the situation; and it’s inevitable when preparations are made for any major event that some factors will be beyond our control.
I think we should simply forget these disappointments because the races are certainly not lacking in attractiveness in spite of them. It’s always our target to look for quality rather than just quantity. I believe our current line-ups which include the first four runners home in the Dubai Duty Free, namely winner Presvis, and placegetters River Jetez, Wigmore Hall and Royal Bench, as well as Gitano Hernando who also ran good in the Dubai World Cup and Musir who has delivered fine performances in Dubai over these two seasons, have what is undeniably a very strong overseas contingent. So I hope you will all be joining us to see how these visitors measure up against our top Hong Kong runners tomorrow - and on the coming Sunday.
All the BMW Champions Mile renewals since the race was opened to overseas competition have been won by the home team and it will be interesting to see whether our horses can extend this impressive dominance tomorrow. The pace of this race is expected to be good to slow and more likely on the slow side which may help horses on the pace. Sight Winner should lead with Beauty Flash coming across from Gate 14, with Able One and Lucky Nine sitting behind the pace. Xtension should be in midfield and Musir who is in terrific form is expected to be behind midfield near the back of the field with Presvis at the back. A slow pace would make it difficult for both Musir and Presvis to catch horses in the front, and therefore they are for me more likely for a place finish. This will be supported by the fact that both Able One and Lucky Nine can run extremely fast final sections. I like these two horses, with a slight advantage for Lucky Nine in this race. Xtension has a good chance, too, and depends if he is not too far back in the field.
In the Berlin Handicap, the expected pace should be good to fast with Penglai Xianzi to lead, but he will come under pressure from Prolific Champion and Flying Supreme, who both come from high draws and the pace will help closers. I like Zaidan most in this race because he should be well positioned in midfield and I think he should improve from his first very good run. Familists is a tough contender and should have a chance to be placed. The same should apply to Paganini's Soul who will enjoy the faster pace than in his last race when the pace was slow. Elegance Klammer is an upcoming horse and should run better than last time when he had a throat inflammation.
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