Like many local sports fans, I was pleased to learn that our track cycling queen and Olympic medalist Sarah Lee Wai-sze gave us something to cheer for once again last weekend. Adding to the bronze medal she won at the London Games last summer, Sarah was crowned the overall champion in the Women’s Sprint and Keirin events at the Track Cycling World Cup after the final leg of the event in Mexico, and made a proud return to Hong Kong in midweek.
Lee’s double success, along with her emphatic performance in the Olympics, comes as great news for local cycling and our Sha Tin neighbours the Hong Kong Sports Institute. With her major successes in the Olympics and the World Cup, Sarah is naturally now targeting another top honour in the cycling world - the 2013 Track Cycling World Championships in Belarus next month. I wish Sarah all the best and hope she can generate more good news for Hong Kong.
The extraordinary achievements attained by top Hong Kong athletes like Sarah and her many predecessors, such as Lee Lai-shan and Wong Kam Po, definitely help inspire the local public and places local sports clearly within their focus. Similarly, in racing, the stars of our sport, both horse and jockey, are an inspiration for many in Hong Kong and help draw their focus to what is this city’s most vibrant and well-supported elite sports scene. We are also pleased to collaborate with our many strategic partners here in Hong Kong with whose support we are able to bring new dimensions to the sport of horseracing, which in turn helps maintain that focus and spark new interest.
Kent & Curwen is one of those partners and this stylish men’s fashion brand will be the title sponsor for the Centenary Sprint Cup tomorrow. Having supported many local and international sports events, Kent & Curwen has collaborated with local showbiz star Aaron Kwok in recent years, appointing him as their brand ambassador. Certainly most of you will be very familiar with Aaron. He’s now an active horse owner, and his horse Calling With Love has received a lot of attention in its races this season. It’s nice to see racing getting wider exposure as a result, enabling more people to make contact with sport. Aaron will be at Sha Tin as one of our presentation guests for the big race. His horse Calling With Love will also be running tomorrow, in Race 9, so I wish him the best of luck and I’ll see if his horse can bring him a second win for the season.
Tomorrow’s feature event is the season’s top speed contest down the 1000m chute at Sha Tin – the HKG1 Kent & Curwen Centenary Sprint Cup. This opening leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series will feature the likes of Cerise Cherry, Captain Sweet, Joy And Fun and Lucky Nine - who will square off again following their decent performances in last month's G1 Hong Kong Sprint. The race's defending champion Eagle Regiment will also make his race return after a lengthy spell, while younger talents such as Frederick Engels and Amber Sky will try to prove their top-flight credentials and challenge the established older speedsters. Apart from that, eight of the runners in the field are also entered for either the Al Quoz Sprint or the Dubai Golden Shaheen on Dubai World Cup Day in late-March. Their connections would of course love to see their horses run well on Sunday, and they will subsequently see if it’s worth mounting a bold challenge for Hong Kong overseas.
The race has attracted an excellent field that includes most of the best sprinters in Hong Kong. The pace is expected to be good with the three-year-old Amber Sky from Gate 10 able to lead, along the favourite rail position on the outside of the course. Surprise last-time winner Go Baby Go may share the lead while Eagle Regiment, Joy And Fun and Cerise Cherry are likely to compete for good spots behind the leaders. Lucky Nine and Frederick Engels will have to come from further back and will need luck to find a gap when both runners - being more suited at 1200m - try to run on.
In this race I like 1000m specialists such as Amber Sky, Go Baby Go, Eagle Regiment and Vital Flyer, and I still have high hopes for Amber Sky despite the disappointment last time when he was found having blood in his trachea. He is working well and is for me the most interesting upcoming sprinter in Hong Kong. In relation to Go Baby Go, Amber Sky will be benefited from a 10-pound swing than they met last time, which he was beaten by 2 lengths in that race. Eagle Regiment as last year’s winner of this race had lameness issue in March, and was rested for four months. He has been prepared for this race as he is seen as a straight course specialist. He’s working well and his bodyweight returns to his winning level. He will have decent win and place chance, as is Go Baby Go who showed very good speed in his last race and has maintained his form. The horse which can surprise is Vital Flyer who was rested for a month after his last race and won his last dirt trial in good time. As a course and distant specialist, he’s always good for a place. Joy And Fun was placed over course and distance and would be under normal circumstances one of my picks. But his reported body weight increase is of concern and I would recommend having a look on him at the paddock to assess his race fitness at then.
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