I think many racing fans would have enjoyed our various overseas simulcasts last weekend, with the chance to see My Name Is Bond winning the Macau Hong Kong Trophy for Hong Kong at Taipa, as well as One And Only and The Grey Gatsby winning the Japanese and French Derby respectively. For myself I was very happy to see my horse Now We Can doing well in the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly on Sunday. As in 2013, he was again involved in an exciting finish approaching the wire, but he was a bit unlucky for losing the race by a head margin on Sunday, instead of winning narrowly as he did last year. Having said that I think he showed one of his best performances and I’m very satisfied with it. I hope he will enjoy some better luck in his next race.
Back in Hong Kong our leading jockeys Zac Purton and Joao Moreira both produced solid performances, with no luck required. They each rode a hat-trick of winners in our race meeting on Sunday, meaning Zac still leads Joao by 15 wins in the jockeys’ premiership. Zac also achieved a historic milestone in getting to a century of winners this season, becoming the only other jockey apart from Douglas Whyte to ride 100 winners in a Hong Kong season. I know that Whyte has achieved this mark six times over the past decade, but it's still an exceptional achievement by Purton when one considers how competitive every race in Hong Kong is.
With Zac looking in control of the jockeys' title, the competition has become very close for the trainer’s premiership. The top four trainers on the current standings, namely John Size, Caspar Fownes, Tony Cruz and John Moore, are only separated by six winners. Interestingly they all saddled one winner at Sha Tin on Sunday, so no one gained any ground. I'm sure they will all continue to try and find all the winners they can to enhance their title bids over the next few weeks. With only 10 race meetings to go, it will be interesting to see if Purton can maintain his significant advantage, and the battle on which trainer will stand at the top of the pile as the season ends.
I know many of you will recall the epic contest last season, as Dennis Yip clinched the title by winning the decisive last race in our season finale at Happy Valley. It may well be that this season ends in an equally exciting fashion, but if so it will be at Sha Tin as due to the Government’s underground stormwater storage scheme underneath the Happy Valley racetrack, tonight we will be having our last Valley race meeting of the season.
The four leading trainers mentioned above have each got a number of quality runners for this race meeting, particularly Caspar and Tony, as both of them strive for results at their favourite hunting ground. The four table toppers will also be in direct competition in the Happy Valley Vase tonight, as they saddle a total of seven horses in this Class 1 1800m event, also the last feature event at the Valley this season. For those of you who opt for on-course programmes, the party atmosphere will be as great as ever as there will be performances from Tess Collins and her band, and the Ben Semmens Band tonight. I know that Ben will also introduce his new song called Home, which dedicates to Hong Kong and the spirit and resilience of the people and the city. It’s also a song to people with a love for their homes wherever they may be in the world and I’m very much looking forward to hear and experience it. Anyway, please come and join us for a fun night out and a great send-off at the Valley this evening.
For the Happy Valley Vase, it has attracted a good quality field. The pace is likely to be slow as there is no strong pacesetter and it will favour horses in the front part of the field. Sunny Ying is the most likely leader with Chater Dream and Same World in handy position. Real Specialist, Little Dreams and Packing Whiz can be well placed with Rainbow Chic just behind them. The widely drawn Willie Invictus may be taken back. Packing Whiz is working well and is one of the main chances for me as is Rainbow Chic. Same World and Sunny Ying are course and distance winners and are chances for a place in this exciting race.
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