Kung Hei Fat Choy! First of all let me wish all of you a healthy, wealthy and wonderful Year of the Horse. I know many of you will have been busy recently enjoying happy gatherings with your relatives and friends. I have certainly felt the joyful atmosphere myself when I have been out around the city these past few days.
It seems to me that the Year of the Horse is especially meaningful to Hong Kong people, although I admit that I am slightly biased, thanks to my personal interest in horses and to the fact that I was born in the Year of the Horse! For those locals and tourists who have been enjoying some of the traditional celebrations, I hope you managed to catch sight of the Club's spectacular float in the CNY parade last night.
The horse has a special place in our history, our culture and our affections - and, of course, horseracing is the No.1 spectator sport here in Hong Kong. This year will be an exciting one for the Club too as in addition to the wonderful racing that lies ahead over the next 12 months, during this Year of the Horse, we are celebrating the 130th anniversary of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, and we also have the honour of hosting the Asian Racing Conference in early May, for the third time since 1978.
It is natural that horses will take the focal point approaching the New Year. The media has turned its attention to these lovely creatures too, and many local and foreign media correspondents stationed in Hong Kong have approached us for some help in producing news and features related to horses, both in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year and the Chinese New Year raceday itself this Sunday.
One of the characters in some of those feature reports is our lead horse Ah Jock. I learnt that this popular, grey warmblood is now 19, making him the oldest horse currently based at Sha Tin racecourse. He was brought to Hong Kong back in 1999 and has been serving in our Club's lead horse team for the past 15 years. Ah Jock's age roughly equates to a human who is in his 50s. This means that he is approaching his retirement age.
This factor has meant that Ah Jock has taken on lighter duties of late, and he's now mainly responsible for training other new lead horses in the team. One of Ah Jock's duties is to accompany those inexperienced or relatively temperamental horses to the starting point before races, or to assist in the recapture of any riderless horses on the track. The lead horses are unsung hero who play an important role in the racing operation every race meeting. So when you come to the racecourse tomorrow, you might want to take a close look at the team of lead horses and appreciate their contribution.
There will also be plenty of on-course activities to catch your attention. There is the opening show that in the Parade Ring at 11am, and the return to action of our LONGINES Hong Kong Cup and BMW Hong Kong Derby winner Akeed Mofeed who will make his first start since his emphatic success in the Cup back in December. No matter which activities attract you, please come and join us in celebrating the New Year together tomorrow. There is bound to be a big crowd, so leave plenty of time for your journey and get To Sha Tin early, to make the most of the day. The gates will open at 10.30am.
The Centenary Vase is run as a Group 3 under handicap conditions over 1800m, and the field of 10 is of very high quality. Awkwardly drawn Helene Spirit will have to push early to get across and should at least share the lead with Business As Usual. With no strong pace rivals the tempo is likely to be good to slow, which in this small field should not disadvantage any runners. Dan Excel, Same World, Akeed Mofeed and possibly Pure Champion can be well placed close to the front, while Real Specialist, Ashkiyr are in midfield. Endowing and Free Judgement are likely to settle further back.
Akeed Mofeed will use this race for his next main target, the Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup. But he has no time off after the International Races to keep his weight at the same level since his win. He will be the horse to beat with Dan Excel being his main opponent. Helene Spirit has recent race fitness and is working well too. Real Specialist is for me a place chance on his good form in the Stewards’ Cup, when running on for a 5th place. He will be meeting Dan Excel again with an eight-pound weight swing in his favour. Same World is not a very consistent horse but with Joao Moreira on board, he will be a dangerous runner at this light weight.
Comment
