I hope you all enjoyed the Lunar New Year holidays with your families and friends as I did. During the holidays, one particular event brought me extra enjoyment and satisfaction, the emphatic successes we had at our Chinese New Year race meeting on Tuesday. The racecourse atmosphere was electric that day and the race-day attendance of 118,864 was, I believe, the highest ever figure in Hong Kong’s racing history. Turnover-wise, the figure of HK$1.526 billion was also the record high for our CNY race-day.
These fantastic results serve as a great omen for us in the Year of the Snake. They really reflect the vibrancy of Hong Kong racing and the huge support given to the sport by our loyal racing fans. I would like to also thank our Club staff for the terrific job they did in serving customers across different channels during this popular meeting and achieving such a wonderful day for us all.
Such an emphatic response gives me extra optimism for our racing growth this season. Certainly of importance are those higher class races and star horses that give race fans an exciting top-quality focus, so further boosting their interest and enthusiasm for the sport.
With the Derby soon approaching, our four-year-old generation offers us extra excitement. Some said before our four-year-old series commenced this season that the ratings of our four-year-old crop, including those on the road to the Derby, were not very high. But after the first leg was held and a number of other emerging contenders gained nice results in good races in recent weeks, it’s no exaggeration to say that there are a lot more people now following these rising stars, and with renewed excitement too. A few racing commentators are now talking about the strong potential of these young stars, even suggesting that several of them could further develop and become top class runners in Hong Kong in the future.
Different to previous seasons, this term we have made special arrangements for our Four-Year-old Series. We made the decision to host the three legs alongside other premier Group One events on the same race days. The Hong Kong Classic Mile was staged together with The Stewards’ Cup, while the Classic Cup tomorrow is tied in with the Chairman’s Sprint Prize, and on Derby day we will have a double G1 fixture that also includes the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup. We hope that these moves will increase the attractiveness and excitement for race fans on these important race-days.
I believe it will be impossible for us to repeat the record turnout and turnover for our G1 double header tomorrow, but we still hope to have a decent crowd turning up to create another special atmosphere at Sha Tin as top gallopers such as Lucky Nine, Joy And Fun, Gold-Fun, Akeed Mofeed and Garlic Boy will be in action, contesting the two HKG1s respectively. I’m looking forward to see which two quality horses will be crowned the winners.
Akeed Mofeed, who carries the high expectations of many racing fans this season, will take on Classic Mile one-two Gold-Fun and Garlic Boy in the Hong Kong Classic Cup tomorrow – his first start in the group company in Hong Kong. This could well be the main focus of this HK$6 million event, also the second leg of the Four-Year-Old series, but the race has shaped into a very competitive contest with several emerging talents in opposition.
Over the distance of 1800m it will be a first test for the four-year-olds in relation to their stamina, as a lot of the horses are for their first time stepping up to this distance. The pace is expected to be good to slow as Wah May Star appears to be the only leader. President Lincoln, It Has To Be You and Gold-Fun are likely to compete for good spots behind the speed. Autumn Gold and Blazing Speed can be well placed behind the pace group with Happy Era in midfield. Ashkiyr, Akeed Mofeed and Chater Dream are likely positioned at the back, together with Garlic Boy and Poetic Justice.
The pace should give slight advantages for horses in the front of the field. Even Gate 13 being far from ideal, Gold-Fun should be able to take up a good position in front, especially with the long run from the 1800m start to the bend. He is working well and is one of my picks, but Douglas Whyte has to be cautious not to take the lead too early in the straight because Gold-Fun seems to idle when in front. The race is for me more open than what I read in a lot of newspapers because I expect some horses to improve significantly from their last starts. Most of these horses I like come from the back of the field, such as Akeed Mofeed who was very unlucky in his last start as being blocked in his run and nearly stopped but he still managed to re-adjusted himself and re-accelerated impressively. He is working very well and is a serious win chance here.
Ashkiyr is one of the improvers I like and he will appreciate the step up in distance, with him being a 2000m winner in France. Garlic Boy has been in terrific form this season and working very well. Last time in the Classic Mile he was blocked for a run at the 400m, but still stormed home for a runner-up finish. He should have not an issue with the additional distance being a progeny of Savabeel. Other improvers also included Poetic Justice who ran a great race last time when not getting a run until the 300m and finished strongly, as well as Blazing Speed who should improve from his good last run and will appreciate the extra distance.
For the Chairman's Sprint Prize as second leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series, it has attracted 9 runners and is run at the A-course with an expected good to slow pace due to the fact that there is no definite leader in the race. Cerise Cherry is likely to share the lead and may make use of his good rail draw. Best Eleven can take the box seat with Final Answer, while Captain Sweet may need to push to overcome his wide draw. Lucky Nine should find cover in midfield from his draw in Gate 5, with Joy And Fun on his inside. Frederick Engels and Time After Time may be taken back to join Admiration.
Lucky Nine is working very well and should have a good chance to redeem himself from his slightly disappointing runs recently, especially in the Longines Hong Kong Sprint because his last run over 1000m is not his preferred distance. His main opponent is from my point of view Frederick Engels who is working very well too and can run very fast last sectionals and dashed the last 2 furlongs in his last race in 22.01 seconds. Cerise Cherry should not be underestimated at least for a place, as well as Best Eleven who ran much better than I expected in his last run after a long break, and has improved in his work since then.
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