Packing Whiz notched up his first victory since joining Caspar Fownes’ yard with a stylish performance in the HKG2 Chairman’s Trophy last Sunday, capping a fascinating race day from the sporting perspective. But champion jockey Douglas Whyte seemed to steal the limelight at Sha Tin racecourse that day as he snatched a wonderful six-timer, which equalled the all-time race record in Hong Kong.
Whyte was unstoppable from the start as he won four times in the day’s first six races. Although he had two near misses for second in two feature races – the Chairman’s Trophy and the Skol Cup, a late winning double in the last two races helped him achieve the same feat as Brett Prebble did at a Happy Valley race meeting almost three years ago.
Apart from his sextet of winners, Whyte rode seconds in three other races and also finished third in one other, showing the great consistency in his performances that day. With Zac Purton drawing a blank, the emphatic results also help extend his lead to nine winners in the jockeys’ premiership.
While Whyte established a healthy lead for his bid to win his 13th consecutive champion jockey title, two experienced home-grown horsemen also had reason to start the week with great optimism. Chris So and Benno Yung will be masters of their own stables next season as they were unveiled on Monday as the latest local trainers to join the elite rank for the start of the 2013/14 campaign.
Both Chris and Benno have been working for a long time as assistants to two of our top trainers, Caspar Fownes and John Size, respectively. Chris has been a key member of the Fownes team since Caspar obtained his training license in 2003 and I know Benno, with his long experience of local racing as a jockey and assistant trainer, has been a great help in his role as assistant from the moment John Size arrived from Australia in 2001. The duo enjoyed great relationships with the two leading trainers and each certainly played a great part in Caspar’s and John’s successes in the trainers’ premiership.
I know that in a media session yesterday morning both Fownes and Size heaped praise and offered their unreserved support to the duo, saying that Chris and Benno have long been huge assets to their stables, and that they are proud of their assistants’ promotions to the trainers’ ranks. I also echo John Size’s view which he expressed that these two new trainers might have a slow start in the beginning months next season, but he sees this as a positive and natural development, and believes results will come gradually after that. In my opinion, having a relatively small or medium team means they will have more time to understand and nurture each horse in the stable, and this will benefit these horses, as well as their owners and handlers.
Having said that, both John and Caspar gave these two new trainers strong votes of confidence and they are of the belief that they will do well in the seasons to come. In fact, this is a big moment for both new trainers and the promotion is a great reward for their efforts and the progress they have made over the years, which has turned them into first-rate horsemen. I hope they will have successful training careers and I’m sure local racing fans will also give them enthusiastic support, as they would undoubtedly love to see these two talented home-grown horsemen enjoy future success in the sport.
Tonight it’s also a celebratory moment for the Club as the Beijing HKJC Clubhouse is celebrating its 5th anniversary. Since its opening in 2008 our Beijing Clubhouse has become a popular venue and meeting place for many of our Club Members from Hong Kong, as well as our Mainland Members, when they are in the capital. The Clubhouse fully embraces our concept of being a “home away from home” for all our members and patrons. Hopefully it will continue to flourish, with more Club Members enjoying the premier services there in the future.
I’m in Beijing right now to officiate at a host of celebratory events to be held here today. But I shall not miss tonight’s races as I will follow the action closely from here. Among the eight races on the card, the Beijing Clubhouse Anniversary Cup is run as a Class 4 over 1650m. Today’s course is C+3 which normally tends to favour horses in the front. With the expected good to slow pace, Electronic Fortune from Gate 2 can hold the rail and take the lead. Horses joining him are likely the wide-drawn Fun Heroes, Good Friends Magic and Travel Guide. Geronimo Meadow, Winning Bear, Expectator and Young Talent can be well positioned. Ambitious Treasure has to come from the back as well as Diligent III. Electronic Fortune is working well and has trialled in Happy Valley. He will be a win and place chance for me in this open race. Winning Bear is working well too and with Douglas Whyte as jockey he has a win and place chance too. Travel Guide is coming back to form and should not be underestimated! Ambitious Treasure is working well and I can see him as a place chance, as is the Racing Club-owned horse Young Talent.
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