Reigning champion trainer Caspar Fownes enjoyed a great evening at Happy Valley in midweek and the results helped him in his cause to defend his crown. That night he scored a treble and narrowed the gap on championship leader John Moore to just a single win. Another outstanding trainer, John Size, is stalking closely in third and sits just three wins behind Caspar. If the last few seasons are anything to go by, there will likely be more twists and turns in this season’s remaining 11 race meetings.
This morning Moore’s stable ace Able Friend set off on his journey from the Sha Tin stables to Newmarket, where he will prepare for the G1 Queen Anne Stakes, which is held on Tuesday week, the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting. Hopefully everything will go as planned for the world’s co-top horse during his stay in England.
Before the royal meeting, there is a lot going on in world racing this weekend. I believe many racing fans from around the world, including many of us in Hong Kong, will first set their eyes on two major races on either side of the Atlantic tonight and tomorrow morning.
In our simulcast last Sunday we watched Duramente win the Japanese Derby. The original of all Derbies, the historical and prestigious Epsom Derby in England, will be held tonight, with 12 top-class three-year-olds contesting this mile and a half event. Many Hong Kong racing fans love Frankie Dettori and this great jockey will be riding in the Derby for the 20th occasion this year. Having only won the Derby once previously, with Authorized in 2007, this time he will be atop leading hopeful Golden Horn. From our simulcast tonight I will be interested to see if this unbeaten horse can bring Frankie a second success in this great race.
Perhaps the most talked about three-year-old in the world this year is American Pharoah and he is the main focus in the US where he will attempt to become the first American Triple Crown winner since 1978 in the G1 Belmont Stakes tomorrow morning. Having rated just a pound below Able Friend in the latest Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, this horse has already won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The 2400m distance of the Belmont Stakes is always a grueling test for American three-year-olds and very few stay the distance. Several have tried since 1978 and all have failed, including California Chrome last year, so it would be great for racing if the horse could end the long wait for a Triple Crown winner. I guarantee there will be a huge celebration among racing fans in America and beyond if he does succeed.
One of the first things I’ll do tomorrow morning will be to catch up on the coverage from the US. And the G1 entertainment will not stop there as we have also arranged for the Yasuda Kinen to be simulcast from Tokyo during our races at Sha Tin tomorrow.
In our Sha Tin’s card, the Hong Kong University Alumni Association Challenge Cup is a Class 2 over 1800m. Unfortunately it has been reduced to nine starters after the withdrawal of Savvy Nature this morning. The pace is expected to be slow with no regular leader and many of these horses usually race midfield or further back. Bubble Chic is the most likely leader, with Top Act sitting just behind him. Wayfoong Express should be well positioned behind them together with Take To The Limit and Dynamism. Selkirk Star and Renaissance Art may be eased back which is, despite the small field, a slight disadvantage to them.
Renaissance Art is working well and with the Fownes stable in terrific form, he’s my first choice. Take To The Limit is working very well too and is the main danger for Renaissance Art here. Wayfoong Express did not handle the very soft going in his last start at all and in case the ground stays on the good to yielding side, he should have a place chance.
For the Epsom Derby tonight, interestingly in this year’s renewal there’ s a starter owned by the Hong Kong owner Robert Ng in Success Days. He has won his last start the Derrinstown Derby Trial Stakes, thrashing Summaya by 10 lengths on the track rated heavy. The latter horse previously beat another Derby runner Hans Holbein in a maiden event. If the going would be on the soft side, he has at least a place chance. The impressive Dante Stakes winner Golden Horn, trained by John Gosden, is the favourite with slight doubts of his stamina but still the horse to beat. A strong opposition comes from his stablemate Jack Hobbs who is improving and will stay the distance. Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien won the Oaks last night and he saddles three horses here in Giovanni Canaletto, Hans Holbein and Kilimanjaro. Interestingly Ryan Moore has decided to ride Giovanni Canaletto who had a slight setback in training but being a full brother to the 2013 winner Ruler Of The World, he has no queries about his ability to stay the distance. Hans Holbein is my other choice with his proven stamina of winning a G3 over 2400m in his last start in Chester.
Meanwhile, I’m sure all of you sports fans, and perhaps some of you who are not, will know that the Uefa Champions League final will be held later tonight. It features the clash between Barcelona and Juventus, the newly-crowned league champions in Spain and Italy. A win for Barcelona will be their fourth success here in this most prestigious competition in European Club football over the past decade. Victory may even mean more for Juventus as they last won it in 1996. It’s going to be a long night for me but I cannot miss the exciting racing and football on offer this evening.
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