Soon we will enter the Year of the Horse and on Thursday we hosted a press conference for our Chinese New Year race meeting on 2 February. Traditionally it is one of the most popular events among Hong Kong people, and last year we had a remarkable attendance with 119,000 people enjoying the occasion at our two racecourses.
We have arranged a host of on-course programmes and events that day. One of those will be a Preview of the “Tribute to Xu Beihong” Exhibition, which is curated by cross media artist Simon Ma. I had met Simon in Beijing during a press conference and exhibition in our Beijing Clubhouse previously, and I was very impressed by his work as well as his passion, vision and keen interest to make contributions to the community. It was great to meet him again on Thursday and as invited by Simon, to take part in a horse painting demonstration with him. I enjoyed trying my hand at painting as it was the first time for me since I was a young boy. It was a fun experience but I think it’s safe to say that there is not a future career for me as an artist! Anyway I’m confident you will all be entertained by our various events, especially the exciting races, and I hope you can join us at the races to celebrate the New Year together.
As the Year of the Horse approaches, it is quite appropriate that our top horses have captured the focus this week. Some of them have been ranked in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR) as announced by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities on Thursday.
If you remember back to 2012, we went through a transition as the older generation of top horses retired and the newer generation began to emerge. That resulted in a drop in the number of Hong Kong horses in the 2012 WBRR. But I’m pleased that the transition phase has passed and the year-end 2013 rankings show that we have a record-equalling 21 horses listed in the WBRR.
Such a tally also places us as the jurisdiction with the 5th highest representation in this year’s list, which is the highest position we have ever attained. It really is a special achievement for us given our relatively small horse population of 1,200. To put the feat into some context, the tally of 21 puts us on a par with France, a major racing nation with vastly more horses, and is one more than achieved by Ireland, another nation with a rich racing heritage and a huge horse breeding history. It was also good to see Military Attack and Ambitious Dragon both attain a year-end rating of 124, the same as the latter horse did 12 months ago. They are the highest-rated horses in Hong Kong history alongside Good Ba Ba, who achieved that mark in the 2008 classification. I hope that before too long we will be celebrating a Hong Kong horse posting a 125-plus figure.
In the past year the likes of Military Attack, Glorious Days, Dan Excel and Dominant rose to prominence and it has been exciting to watch each of them develop as international G1 winners. What has been really satisfying is seeing our top four-year-olds of last year also make high-flying progress for their owners and fans. The top three finishers in the BMW Hong Kong Derby – Akeed Mofeed, Endowing and Gold-Fun – have all ranked in the WBRR on this occasion, reflecting their successful leap to the highest international level.
All these encouraging statistics and figures prove that our ongoing efforts, with the support of owners and trainers, to enhance the quality of our horses and races in recent years are paying off. I hope such a promising trend will continue, and with that thought in mind, it’s that time of year when we start to look closely at the younger generation of horses to see if they have what it takes to rise to prominence and flourish at international level in the future. Tomorrow will give us all the chance to get a first serious handle on whether our four-year-old generation this season might have the credentials to make the grade. The HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile, the first leg of the Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Series, has an exciting field of 12 that includes five horses selected by our Club commentators as Rising Stars for 2013/2014 season.
Tomorrow will in fact be something of a mile showcase, with most of our top milers in action, as the afternoon will feature another premier local mile event, the HKG1 Stewards’ Cup. Not only will the top-class field see last month’s Hong Kong Mile one-two Glorious Days and Gold-Fun engage in a re-match, it will also see reigning Horse of the Year Military Attack and Hong Kong Vase winner Dominant drop back to this shorter distance to try and secure this first leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown. So please don’t miss out on the exciting action and join us for the double HKG1 action at Sha Tin tomorrow.
For the Classic Mile it has attracted a superb field of four-year-olds to compete for glory. The pace is expected to be slow because the only horse likely to go to the front and lead is Photon Willie, who comes out of Gate 12. The slow pace favours horses in the front of the field and may cause some surprises. Super Lifeline, Secret Sham, Able Friend and All You Wish should be well positioned in the first half of the field, with Designs On Rome just behind in midfield. Flagship Shine as one of the favourites has the dilemma to come out of Gate 11. With the lack of pace he’s at risk of not slotting into a nice position with cover in midfield and may be trapped wide. John Moore's armada is very strong and it is not easy to choose between Designs On Rome or Able Friend, and I have only a slight preference in Designs On Rome, who can run fantastic last sectionals for the final 400m. Having picked as my third choice, Flagship Shine has the potential to beat them, but I am concerned about his difficult draw and he needs some luck. The same applies to All You Wish who runs over 1600m for the first time and his performance in his last race suggested that 1600m is a more a suitable distance for him now! My outsider is Dibayani who ran a fantastic race in his first race in Hong Kong over 1400m, which is far too short for him and he will relish the extra 200m in distance but will likely be at his best at 1800m plus.
For the Stewards’ Cup, the expected pace is likely to be good to slow, which gives a slight advantage for horses positioning closer to the pace. Helene Spirit is the likely leader with in my view Real Specialist from Gate 1, while Same World and Dan Excel will be sitting just behind the pair. Gold-Fun is awkwardly drawn in Gate 9 but with his tactical speed, he should be able to find cover just behind the pace. Packing Whiz is working well and can be a surprise, because he is working well without having health issue and should have improved further. Glorious Days and Military Attack have to go back to the end of the field due to their draws. Both of them have good ability to run fast last sectionals with in the end I think Glorious Days could be the winner.
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