Earlier this week when I was in the UK to attend the Royal Ascot meeting, I saw a great number of Australian racing media – some of whom are my good friends – who were covering the Royal Ascot meeting there. Having travelled half–way around the world to be there, their prime task is certainly to report every move and pre-race preparation of their supermare Black Caviar, who will be seeking her 22nd consecutive victory in the G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes tonight.
Given the mare’s paramount status Down Under, and with the Diamond Jubilee probably her only race in the UK, I think it comes as no surprise that she has received far more attention than previous Aussie runners, such as Takeover Target, Choisir and Scenic Blast, who all achieved emphatic successes at past Royal meetings. I believe that no matter whether you are a racing fan in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong or wherever, all would be delighted to watch great champions such as Black Caviar and Frankel competing at the same venue during the same week in front of their supporters.
I was particularly impressed by Frankel’s phenomenal performance in winning the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday. The way this imposing four-year-old paraded in the paddock, trotted to the starting gate and “destroyed” a classy field of top milers in the race – including possibly the world’s second best miler, Excelebration – was just fantastic. So now I’m looking forward to watching the performance of the unbeaten Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, and hopefully she too can win impressively as her trainer Peter Moody told reporters earlier that the Hong Kong Sprint in December will be on her radar if she succeeds in her Ascot challenge. For the chance of Black Caviar in this race, I think this prolific mare is in great form and was working very well on Tuesday morning. The opposition does not look special and I believe she should win easily with Moonlight Cloud, Bogart and Society Rock the best place chances.
It’s pleasing that our simulcasts enable racing fans in Hong Kong to have the chance to watch so many top performances by these gallant runners in major overseas events. This enables Hong Kong fans to follow the top international horses and feel even more connected to global racing, especially when watching the sensational victories of these top horses live from the paddock to the finishing line, as that real-time interaction enhances the whole experience for fans of this great sport. All of you will also have the opportunity to be further involved and show your appreciation and support to these top international racehorses as the voting for our Most Admired Overseas Horse commenced earlier this week. So did the voting campaign for the Most Popular Horse and Most Popular Jockey of the season, for which I suspect King’s Stand Stakes winner Little Bridge and his jockey Zac Purton may be one of the popular choices among our fans. So please don’t forget to vote before the voting ends on 6 July.
Certainly, you will have more time to decide which overseas horse you will support, after watching the performance of Black Caviar in the Diamond Jubilee, as well as Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden in the G2 Hardwicke Stakes in our Diamond Jubilee Day simulcast tonight. It will be interesting to see whether either of them can come close to matching Frankel’s awesome performance on Tuesday.
There will be two more Most Admired Overseas Horse nominees in action tomorrow – both from Japan. They are Orfevre and Rulership who will both be competing in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse, which will also be simulcast to Hong Kong. It will be the first time for Hong Kong racing fans to have the chance to watch the live performance of Orfevre, last year’s Japanese Triple Crown winner. And I’m sure Rulership, who will be making his first start after his emphatic victory in the G1 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup at Sha Tin in April, will try to provide Orfevre a mighty challenge.
I believe every racing club endeavours to offer races of the best possible quality to its racing fans. We in the Club aim to do more than that with the provision of top-class and exquisite membership services. The Club has long been one of the most long-established and prestigious membership clubs in Asia, and currently has about 27,000 members.
Tomorrow we will be hosting the Members’ Day races at Sha Tin, giving our special dedication to all our Club Members, and an occasion for them all to have fun and meet with each other at the racecourse. In the main event the Members Cup, the pace of this Class 2 1200m race is expected to be good to slow which gives a slight advantage to horses positioned close to the front of the field. Hawthorne, Adoration and Pretty One are the most likely leaders with Longwah Supreme and Good Words well positioned behind these leaders. Longwah Supreme had a long break since February and is working very well and is back on his best distance. He has a good win and place chance for me. Adoration was beaten in his last start by a head only and even going up in class is still a place chance for me. El Zonda ran a good race over 1400m in his last start and can be placed too, but I prefer more on Pretty One after a long spell and Amigo who has to come from the back.
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