If you were watching our simulcast of the Melbourne Cup last Tuesday, you will have witnessed an absolutely thrilling finish, in fact the closest finish in the 151-year history of this top Australian race. The margin by which French contender Dunaden was eventually declared winner over British-trained Red Cadeaux was no more than a few millimetres, and apparently the stewards had to blow up the photo finish images four times before they were able to separate them.
There is a Hong Kong connection to Red Cadeaux, as the horse is owned by our former Club Chairman Ronald Arculli. Current Chairman Brian Stevenson and I were among the 100,000-plus crowd at Flemington and we shared a box there with our old colleague – so were also able to share his excitement and delight as his horse, rated by most as an outsider, hit the front in the final stages of the race.
And I can tell you that Ronald was truly delighted about the result, even though such a wafer-thin margin cost him the difference between the A$3.6 million first prize and the A$900,000 runner-up purse. He felt that it was "third time lucky", as he has twice before had runners in the Melbourne Cup – Hong Kong's legendary River Verdon in 1994 and his New Zealand-based Red Ruler last year – without getting into the placings at all. So Red Cadeaux ("cadeaux" means "presents" in French) has indeed brought him wonderful presents this time.
I learnt later that Ronald talked to the racing media about the chance of bringing the horse to his home city for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase on 11 December. He mentioned that one of the concerns is the drop-back of the trip from 3200m to 2400m and he planned to discuss this with trainer Ed Dunlop in the coming days. Let’s see what will be the connections’ decision at last.
Many of our local fans enjoy sharing their views with me through this blog, and some have recently asked why we are not simulcasting the Breeders’ Cup races from Churchill Downs to Hong Kong tonight. It’s a fair question, as besides being the largest annual racing carnival in the US, with seven G1 and two G2 events being run today, these races are also a good pointer to global form, with top European horses regularly making trans-Atlantic journeys to challenge the leading Americans.
We know that our fans who follow international racing closely will have great interest in these races, and definitely we would like to simulcast them if we could. Under current simulcast framework, however, we are only allowed 15 simulcast days a season, and five of those have already been used in the first two months of this term, as there was Hong Kong runner’s participation in four occasions. So we have ten remaining opportunities to bring you other top races from around the globe, and our plan this season is to replace the Breeders’ Cup with the Golden Slipper Stakes Day in April, Australia's top event for two-year-olds. This offers a better time slot for Hong Kong racing fans (as compared to the early hours when the Breeders’ Cup will be run), and the higher probability that some Hong Kong-based jockeys will be participating.
It's certainly a tough decision for us, but sadly it’s impossible to bring you all the top overseas races we would like under current limitations. I hope the Government can soon revisit the current restrictions on simulcast races, so that we can better cater to the growing needs of our racing customers. This will also avoid local betting money and potential tax levies being drained away to the pockets of offshore and illegal bookies, which is what inevitably happens when we cannot simulcast such racedays ourselves.
Going back to our local races, Douglas Whyte has been in sizzling form recently as this perennial champion has netted seven wins in the past two meetings. This afternoon, the racing action returns to Sha Tin for a Saturday meeting, which will feature seven turf races and three on the all-weather track. Douglas is booked to ride in eight of these races, and his mounts include young hopefuls such as Croesus, Glorious Days and Voile Rouge. It will be interesting to see if he can extend his winning streak this afternoon.
Supreme Jewellery, who will take part in the Pennington Handicap, is another Doug’s runner I would fancy for its chance this afternoon. The expected race of this 1000m is good, and I believe it will again favour horses drawn in wide gates. Strong pacesetter Dane Patrol should take up his usual role and take the lead, but he will be challenged by Hawthorne or even Supreme Jewellery despite being drawn in Gate 1. Supreme Jewellery is working very well and despite his gate, he’s for me the horse to beat, with Hawthorne as one of his main competitors. For other runners, I like Space Race drawn in Gate 8 and with Gerald Mosse on board, as well as course and distance winner Xi Ying Men.
Meanwhile, I think the Broadwood Handicap, which runs as the last race of the day over 1650m on the All Weather track, is an intriguing race with real depth in the field. The good pace should give every horse a fair chance and strong pacesetter Just Fantastic is likely to lead, but Happy Reunion may give him some pressure. Mighty Sun, Withinmyheart, as well as Military Move will compete for good spots near the pace. Mighty Sun is working well and despite coming out of Gate 11, he has a good place chance for me as well as Military Move. My favourites for this race are Fortune Red Pepper who missed the start slightly last time and ran second but is working very well recently, and Free Judgement who rallied strongly in his previous start and this time could probably benefit from a strong jockey partnership with Brett Prebble on board.
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