At the turn of the year, many racing jurisdictions would have already gone through the process of selecting and announcing their annual award winners, recognising the outstanding performances of their top horses and horsemen in 2012. Last night the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities also unveiled the year-end ratings of the world’s top thoroughbreds in the 2012 World Thoroughbred Rankings (WTR), and I’m pleased to see that quite a number of Hong Kong horses again made the list.
A total of 16 Hong Kong-based horses are ranked in the 2012 WTR, though it is less than the peak figure of 21 we had in the previous year, our representation this year have delivered even better performances, as four of the horses have achieved ratings of 120 or above. The highest-rated Ambitious Dragon even clinched a rating of 124 – a record equalling feat.
This figure sees Tony Millard’s ace match Good Ba Ba’s rating in the 2008 edition, meaning that Ambitious Dragon is the joint-highest rated Hong Kong horse of all time. And California Memory should not be overlooked either as he was raised to a mark of 122 for his impressive LONGINES Hong Kong Cup win. Here in Hong Kong we only have about 1,200 racehorses so it can easily be argued that Ambitious Dragon’s high rating, combined with the fact that our tally ranked us 7th in the world, marks 2012 as a year of fine achievements.
It’s also important to note that we are in a transition period, with some of the older, evergreen warriors gradually handing their batons to the younger rising talents to take up the challenge in the elite grades. I would see it as a normal metabolism in every racing jurisdiction and is an important process in maintaining our racing quality at a high level; but of course, when the numbers of racehorses competing are comparatively few, as they are in Hong Kong, that phase of transition from old to new can sometimes have a more obvious short-term effect and be more easily scrutinised than in nations with far greater racehorse numbers, such as Australia or the UK.
Our aim is to raise the bar of quality and competitiveness in Hong Kong and to help fill the void left by such recently retired stars as Sacred Kingdom, Able One and Viva Pataca, we have some exciting young guns on the rise; horses like Glorious Days and Packing Whiz, who both performed nicely in last month’s internationals. Each of these rising stars has broken into the WTR list for the first time. I hope they will continue to develop and improve - it would be good for the sport in Hong Kong if they could attain top level success at home or even overseas this year.
I’m cautiously optimistic about the new forces of HK horses as I believe a number of new stars will have good potentials of attaining to the top stage. One of the new upcoming stars that has caught my attention is Akeed Mofeed, who made an impressive Hong Kong debut last Saturday when he ran third in a 1400m event. Having said in my last blog that I would be keeping an eye on his performance, this Richard Gibson-trained four-year-old did not disappoint me as though he was forced to steady after a gap closed on the rail in the home straight and he had to settle for a place finish, he was full of running as he closed down the winner at the line. I think that the run has proven his credentials and reinforced the good impression he made in Ireland when he was capable of being placed in a G2 and squared off with Camelot in the Irish Derby.
His name is among those horses entered for the 4yo G1 Hong Kong Classic Mile this Sunday, but I know that Gibson has stated that he is unlikely to declare him for that race. We could well see him next in the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup when I’m sure many of you will maintain an interested focus on the horse. Other than Akeed Mofeed, we will also see the emergence of a few more stars in Sunday’s Hong Kong Classic Mile, including Akeed Mofeed’s stable mate Gold-Fun.
Ahead of the big races on Sunday, tonight at Valley we will be hosting another night meeting with some competitive fields in the eight-race programme. From the quality of the horses running, the Chater Handicap is the highlight of the day. The pace of this Class 2 1200m handicap event is expected to be good to fast, which gives horses coming from off the pace a good chance to perform to their best too. The B Course on which the races run today, with its cut off rail in the straight, gives horse from midfield or even back a better chance to find gaps to go through, instead of being bottled up and not getting a run. The strong pacesetter will be Romantic City who should have no problem to take up his usual role, with rails drawn Super Plus can take the box seat besides London China Town. Charles The Great should find a good position in midfield with Keen Marie, while Good Words from Gate 6 with Douglas Whyte on board for the suspended regular rider Matthew Chadwick, has to be careful for not being trapped wide. Silver Osmanthus from Gate 4 should find a good position on the rail behind Charles The Great, and Talley Close, with Umberto Rispoli as strong finish rider, has to come from the back.
Talley Close is in good form and performed well when ridden patiently from a wide gate last time out. He’s for me a win and place chance in this open race. The main chances are for me Charles The Great and Keen Marie. Despite carrying the top weight, Charles The Great is my first pick in this race. London China Town is working well too but Gate 10 is not an advantage. Instead, I prefer Silver Osmanthus with Zac Purton riding him today!
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