The war drums are beating, the contenders are assembling, and we are just days away from Group 1 international racing action on our home turf. Many of my Club colleagues have long been preparing for this showcase event. Among them, our horse transportation team, stable staff and vet department colleagues will endure a particularly busy week as the overseas competitors arrive and settle into a routine. Among the big names from afar to have already checked into the Sha Tin Quarantine stables are top Australian sprinter Sea Siren, Vase defending champion Dunaden, and Prix de la Foret winner Gordon Lord Byron. Another 15 horses, including the top-rated horse Cirrus Des Aigles, are scheduled to arrive today, so it will be a bustling and exciting work day for everyone involved.
Some of you may be interested to know what these international runners will experience during quarantine. When they arrive at Sha Tin, they all need to receive basic checking by the Club’s vets, such things as measuring body temperature, and taking blood samples and urine samples for further testing. Retrieving a blood sample from a horse is relatively easy as all you need is a syringe to get the job done. Urine samples are another matter and our colleagues often require a little more patience for that task – no amount of urging can make a horse go faster in that particular instance!
I have heard from my colleagues that in the most extreme case in the past they had to wait for three days before the horse felt the urge! Fortunately that case was a young horse due for the International Sale. Most of the horses taking part in the international races are very professional and are seasoned travellers, so they should be well accustomed to these procedures.
These visiting horses are required to reside in the quarantine stables for the entirety of their time in Hong Kong. This means that they can only enter the track for training after all the local horses have finished their track work in the morning. They are able to use the trotting ring and walking machines inside the quarantine stables whenever their handlers wish. I know that the international horses have been doing well in the quarantine stables and I hope they can continue to maintain their condition so as to perform at their best on the big day.
In another stable facilities located on the other side of Sha Tin Racecourse, there also houses 17 unraced griffins who are due to be auctioned in the 2012 Hong Kong International Sale (December) next weekend. I just joined many of our Owners, Members guests and media to watch these young horses breezing up the Sha Tin track this morning, and I have to say it was nice to see them in action. The morning went well and one or two certainly caught my eye.
This season we have decided to separate our sale into two parts, with the first to be held next Saturday. The second part will be held before the BMW Hong Kong Derby day in March next year, and there will be more than 20 horses available then too. We see this new arrangement as giving us the flexibility to allow some youngsters the extra time they require to develop physically before we bring them to Hong Kong, which as you all know is a very competitive racing environment. So any prospective Owners should be mindful that while we have 17 horses heading to our December sale, there are still chances to purchase a horse in the second sale in March should they not get what they want this time.
Before we look forward to the various international events next week, a star jockey arrived from England on Thursday and will commence his first riding stint in Hong Kong tomorrow. The rider is of course the only man to have ridden the mighty Frankel in competitive action, Tom Queally. Tom will be riding here until February and is also taking part in the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship next Wednesday. Although he just has a single ride at Sha Tin tomorrow, I know that he has already secured two extra bookings alongside the four rides he has in the LONGINES IJC. He is a talented and hard working horseman who always tries to improve, and I will be watching with interest to see whether he can make a great start at these two meetings.
For the 11 races at Sha Tin tomorrow, the Peninsula Golden Jubilee Challenge Cup is the sporting highlight of the day, running as a Class 2 event on the All Weather track, with an extended rating band from 105 to 80. The race is likely to run on a wet slow track and should favour horses on the rail and on the speed. The pace is expected to be good to slow with I Smell Money and Crown Witness to lead, and Noble Alpha as well as Emperor Claudius in forward positions. Noble Alpha is working very well and the positioning should make him to be the horse to beat. Free Judgement is working well too but will have to come from the back which is not easy in this track condition. Aomen won on this surface before and should be placed in midfield and has a place chance.
The last race is the Carnarvon Handicap which is run as a Class 3 over 1400m on the turf. The pace is expected to be slow which gives horses on the pace on the C+3 Course an advantage. Apollo Cavalier should be leading with Dual Happy in the box seat in a good position, as Cheers Joy and Treasure Gold. Green Manner goes back in distance to 1400m and is working very well. He will be positioned just behind midfield and he’s my favorite in this race. Plentiful coming from midfield is a place chance as is Speedygonzalez who was a good fourth behind Tour De Force last time.
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