I'm sure that our racing fans will be paying closer attention than ever to the keen contest for this year's trainer’s premiership, following our Hong Kong Reunification Cup meeting last Friday.
Until then it appeared that Tony Cruz almost had the title sewn up, but a well timed treble from John Moore, on a day when Tony managed only two runners-up finishes from 15 entries, has opened the battle right up again. Tony currently leads the race by 72 wins to John's 69 with two meetings and 19 races remaining, providing an enticing climax to the season.
John's achievement was especially notable as his retained jockey Darren Beadman was under suspension on Friday, but he was still able to saddle three winners in Sky Mascot, Smart Giant, and Able Speed, who won the main feature race. If he manages to get a winner or two in the season's last Happy Valley meeting tonight, it will definitely add some spice to the final day's contest on Sunday.
One issue of note is that all of our pattern races have already taken place this season. While John holds the outright lead in prize money earned, which exceeds HK$100 million, it is actually Tony who has won the most stakes money from pattern races this season, and has the best record in the Group 1 races in Hong Kong.
The emphatic Group 1 treble of stable ace Beauty Flash, coupled with California Memory’s success in the Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup, has brought Tony Cruz four G1 titles, compared with the three each won by John Moore and Tony Millard. However, John has won eight pattern races in total in the current season, compared with only six by Tony.
Despite their excellent performances and strong rivalry, these two top trainers have by no means held a monopoly on our Group races this season. Discounting the three Group races won by overseas trainers, the other 29 have been divided up among eight different HK-based trainers. To me this is a positive sign of the healthy development of racing in Hong Kong.
Among the jockeys, our home-grown riders have enjoyed another fruitful season. Most of you will remember Alex Lai’s maiden overseas success with Ricky Yiu-trained Ultra Fantasy in the G1 Sprinters Stakes in Japan early in the season. Matthew Chadwick also claimed his maiden G1 win with California Memory in the Hong Kong Gold Cup, while Howard Cheng and Eddy Lai have both ridden pattern race winners in the current campaign. These local jockeys have shown that they can be just as competitive as their expatriate counterparts in top races, and I hope they will extend this great form to the new season.
Our season will soon be coming to an end, but in Europe it's still mid-season and there are many important races yet to come. Over the weekend, I was taking particular interest in a major race from my home country, the German Derby in Hamburg. This mile and a half race was won by Waldpark, who brought his trainer Andreas Wohler his third German Derby success.
The sole overseas contender in the field, Brown Panther from the UK, finished fifth in this G1 event. But he nevertheless attracted a lot of media and public interest as this three-year-old is bred and owned by football star Michael Owen, and won the King George V Stakes impressively at Royal Ascot recently.
Michael Owen is well-known for his outstanding performances on the football field over the years, and although he doesn't get too many games now for his current club, Manchester United, he has scored a few crucial goals for them in the past season. Over the years, he has also invested million of pounds in horse breeding and established his own stud farms, following in the footsteps of another former England striker, Mick Channon, who is now a top trainer in the UK.
Not surprisingly, Brown Panther attracted a lot of betting support in the German Derby, and indeed started the race as top favourite, so the result will be rather a disappointment for Owen and his fellow connections. But I know the horse is already among the leading favourites for the British St Leger Stakes at Doncaster in September, so let’s see he can bring his star owner the taste of Group 1 success later on.
Back to the season’s final night meeting at Happy Valley tonight, we will be hosting the “Music Rocks the Valley” finale, featuring a few local renowned artists and rock bands. So please come along with your friends and colleagues on course to enjoy the live music, as well as our exciting races this evening.
Tony Cruz has six runners in tonight’s meeting, while John Moore got four, and I will be most interested to see how their runners perform in the Maverick Star Handicap. The race is expected to be run at a good pace and with tonight’s race being held in A Course, it should ensure a fair chance for every runner. Having said that, I’m still of the view that having a good draw has a major impact in the Valley, especially at the distance of 1200m.
Best Fit from Gate 3 has the perfect draw and he should be able to lead. The horse did not stay the additional 200m in his last start at Sha Tin. But he’s working well after that race, and will come back to his best distance this time. Tony has a terrific season, and with Douglas Whyte on board, I think this horse has a nice winning chance in this race. His main challengers I see in Horse Galore, despite going up in the handicap by nine pounds after his victory last start, as well as Best Win whose draw of Gate 7 is not too ideal. Moore-trained First In Command is in very good form and working well. However, coming from Gate 9 and with horses going forward with lower draws, it may leave him to race out wide and therefore I see him having more chance to get a top-three finish than to win. Easy Winner, the stand-by starter which has been called up due to the withdrawal of Chater Mikado yesterday, performed nicely in his previous start over the same course and distance. He could be the surprise package in this race.
In the last Happy Valley race of the season – the Multi-Star Handicap – will be run over the longer distance of 1800m. The good to slow pace should see the ideally drawn Business As Usual to take the lead, or being in the box seat behind Helene Witty, another major chance in the race. Both horses work very well recently but I favour Business As Usual slightly. Beauty Glow is one of the few fillies in training in Hong Kong, and her last run behind Cheer in mid-June was really encouraging. The extra distance should be in her favour and I’ll see if she has the chance to get her maiden Hong Kong victory here. Taking his Valley debut this time, Hot Shot has been a very consistent performer and he will be a horse that I would not leave out.
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