It is less than a week since we held the second of our two major springtime G1 events here in Hong Kong, the Champions Mile, and a little under two weeks since the first, the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup. The pace at which the horseracing calendar moves along is such that we’re already on the verge of the Singapore Airline International Cup race meeting. This has proven to be a key overseas fixture for Hong Kong horses in recent years and I’m sure many of you, like me, are looking forward to seeing how some of our stars perform at Kranji in eight days’ time.
We have a strong hand of five world class runners heading to Singapore, all are international standard Group 1 winners, which is a testament to the quality of our best runners. These include the two most recent winners of the SIA Cup in Military Attack and Dan Excel, as well as Lucky Nine, who has won the last two editions of the KrisFlyer International Sprint.
We are also sending two horses that, although newbies to Singapore, are already proven at the highest level overseas. Aerovelocity, who won the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin in December, won the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen in Japan in March, and Rich Tapestry, winner of the G1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in America last October. Both Aerovelocity and Rich Tapestry gave connections much to smile about with decent performances in their respective barrier trials at Sha Tin early this week.
The five contenders departed for Singapore in the early hours of today and I will be keeping a close watch on news coming out of Singapore about the horses’ preparations in the days leading into the races.
Some interesting news emerged over the past few days about the SIA Cup meeting. Our leading jockey Joao Moreira will partner Singapore sprinter Zac Spirit in the KrisFlyer. Some racing fans will find a bit surprising that Joao could not get any rides from any of the five Hong Kong runners, but that is how it goes sometimes. Each of the five already has an established partner so that has given Singapore connections an opportunity to book Joao – a four-time champion jockey in Singapore before he came to ride in Hong Kong – to partner one of the home team’s leading hopes in the sprint race.
Joao riding a Singapore horse follows a trend that has increased over the past year. It has become common for overseas connections to approach our top jockeys as their riders of choice for their top horses in major overseas races. I think this proves the great talents we have in our jockeys’ ranks. Hong Kong-based jockeys have done very well on their travels as Joao, Zac Purton and Douglas Whyte have all ridden G1 wins in Australia in recent times. And it’s likely that Joao will partner the Australian sprinter Brazen Beau at Royal Ascot next month.
Before his reappearance in Singapore, I’m sure Joao will first have his eyes firmly focused on our Chairman’s Day race meeting at Sha Tin this afternoon, especially as he is only four wins short of tying Douglas Whyte’s all-time record for the number of wins by a jockey in a Hong Kong season.
Nine of the 10 races on the card Chairman’s Day card are named after former chairmen of the Club. The remaining race on the card is the HKG3 Queen Mother Memorial Cup, which will be an important prep race for the G1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup later this month. It will be another test for our Derby form this year, too, as the 13-strong field features three Derby runners: Derby runner-up Got Fly, Derby fourth Helene Happy Star, and HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup winner Thunder Fantasy. It will be exciting to see whether it will be the four-year-olds or the older horses who come out as the winner of this handicap contest.
Horses having a rating of 80 or more are eligible to run in this 2400m HKG3 event. With California Memory, at the rating of 113, carried the top weight of 133 pounds, all horses rated below 93 will be running outside of their handicap rating. With no obvious early speed rivals, the pace will be slow and Khaya will be the only regular leader, which should favour horses racing closer to the speed. Low-drawn Savvy Nature may push closer again and take the box seat on the inside of Thunder Fantasy or Bubble Chic. Wayfoong Express, Got Fly and Shamkiyr can be well placed, with the widely-drawn Renaissance Art, California Memory, Helene Happy Star and Lucky Omens at the rear.
Got Fly has come well out of the BMW Hong Kong Derby and is working well. With a weight of 124 pounds he is for me the horse to beat. Thunder Fantasy is working well too and is my second choice. The improving Savvy Nature only needs to carry 113 pounds, together with Wayfoong Express, who has a proven staying capability, are both runners with place chances. Take To The Limit is an outsider who has improved since his change of stables to Richard Gibson. Despite giving away seven pounds after being allotted the minimum weight of 113 pounds, I think he can spring a surprise for a place.
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