In recent weeks, the prices of commodities such as gold and crude oil have both reached their highest levels of the year in world markets. No doubt those of you who are car owners or enjoy collecting gold jewellery will be especially aware of this trend, though steadily rising prices for food and household items, especially imported goods, are to some extent affecting all of us.
One of the main problems is the weak current value of the US dollar, which means that most foreign currencies are now rising against the HK dollar. This has been a particular concern for our horse Owners, as a large proportion of our previously raced horses or unraced griffins are sourced from Australia and New Zealand, whose currencies have shown especially strong rises against the HK dollar over the past year. The cost of purchasing a horse from one of these countries has risen substantially.
This is one of the reasons why we've decided to increase the total prize money on offer by HK$40 million next season, so as to provide our Owners with more incentive to keep buying top quality horses and give them a better return on their investments. The basic increases will apply across all different Class races as well as HK Group 3 events, ranging from an extra HK$25,000 for a Class 5 race to a hefty HK$100,000 for an HK Group 3 event.
We believe this significant increase in prize money is fair, reasonable, and the right thing to do for our Owners, who have always been the cornerstones of Hong Kong racing. It will help maintain their purchasing power and adjust their budget upwards when bringing quality racehorses to Hong Kong, which in turn will allow us to maintain the world-class standard and status of Hong Kong racing. I've been pleased to hear a lot of positive feedback since we made the announcement on Wednesday, with Owners, trainers and racing columnists welcoming this move and supporting the direction we've taken.
We are also making a major increment to the prize money for the International G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile, which will be increased from HK$16 million to HK$20 million, putting it on a par with the CXHK Cup. At current exchange rates, it will eclipse other notable mile races such as the Yasuda Kinen and Mile Championship in Japan, as well as the Breeders Cup Mile in the US, to become the richest turf mile event in the world.
Our top milers have performed especially well in this international event, with the past five winners all being local runners. Hopefully the higher prize money will attract our Owners to bring even more quality milers to Hong Kong – and certainly, we would like to attract more classy overseas racehorses to compete in this event, too.
This season, the average betting turnover for races at Happy Valley has been very close to that of Sha Tin. This trend shows that most of our racing fans appreciate Valley races and enjoy the special atmosphere at our city racecourse. We are acknowledging this by promoting the January Cup, one of the flagship annual events at Happy Valley, to HKG3 status. This year we saw the likes of Super Satin, Mr Medici and Super Pistachio competing, so I hope that with its new status, the January Cup will see even more quality runners and group performers participating next season.
Tomorrow’s race meeting at Sha Tin will be our 68th of the season, meaning there will just be 15 more before the current season ends on 10 July. While Douglas Whyte is leading Brett Prebble 81 to 62 in the jockeys’ premiership, there’s far tighter competition among the leading trainers in the season run-in, as Tony Cruz is now ahead of John Moore by just 60 to 58. Tony will have nine runners tomorrow and I'm sure many of you will be especially interested to watch the performance of California Choice in tomorrow’s feature race, the Hong Kong Lions' Cup. This young sprinter is definitely a star runner in the making as he remains unbeaten and is seeking to extend his winning streak to five in this 1000m event. So I’ll see if it’s California Choice who can add tally for Tony, or it’s John who can narrow the gap against Tony, with his five runners tomorrow.
The Hong Kong Lions Club is one of the few Class 1 races over 1000m and has attracted an upcoming star such as California Choice to run. The expected pace will be good to fast and, and as I mentioned before, for a 1000m straight event you have to be in a striking position at the 600m mark so as to have a good chance to win the race. Romantic City, Blaze King and Amadeo are runners with speed and they will be in good positions in the early stage, especially Amadeo from Gate 14 for this race over C+3 course. I still expect California Choice to win because he seems to be a superior horse and won last time with something in hand. However, horses like At Moment In Time, Blaze King and Amadeo will give him a run for the money.
The Parrot Handicap is a very competitive Class 3 race on the AWT at a distance of 1650m which should also see a good to fast tempo. The recent AW races have given some reference on how the track performs in relation to a track or speed bias which favoured horses in the front. Healthy Blueberry is expected to lead with horses like My Whisky, Quantum Express, Great Achievement as well as Super Brand staying in good positions behind the speed. Quantum Express is in very good form and is working well; so does Super Brand who will jump from Gate 4, and they are two of the main chances in this race. Having said that I like Ancient Kingdom a lot who ran a fantastic race in his first start and should be suited by the extra distance. Beauty Success is handicapped by having to start at Gate 12 which will make it a bit difficult for him despite his good form. Talking about other outsiders I like Jimson The Best who is also working well and very consistent.
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