It was great to see so many runners out last Sunday for the Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon. Braving the rain in the 10 km event was a joint team of HKJC Racing Trainees and horse owners from the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association. And all for the good cause of the 'Run for Paralympians Charity Programme' - raising over HK$60,000 for disabled athletes and supporting their preparations for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics.
Our Racing Trainees are no strangers to physical exercise, and they posted some very strong times. But I'm pleased to say the horse owners were just as competitive. Let's hope their horses have equal luck next time out! Well done to everybody.
I made a quick trip to London this week to attend the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Ceremony held yesterday where the connections of American Pharoah were presented the top honours for his wonderful and historic performances last year. This award added further gloss to the U.S. Triple Crown winner, who was unanimously named America’s Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards ceremony last weekend. I also had the pleasure of presenting the award to the connections of the great mare Treve as being the world’s joint-third in this year’s rankings.
Our ace runner Able Friend was ranked joint fifth in the final 2015 standings, which also enabled his holding the title as the world’s top-rated sprinter, earning a rating of 125 for his memorable last-to-first dash in the Premier Bowl. Able Friend leads a group of 23 Hong Kong trainees to attain this world-class status in the rankings, a remarkable run of consistency as the number matches last year’s record mark. Designs On Rome was a joint eighth rated 123 in the final tally, a mark matched late in the year when our LONGINES Hong Kong Cup winner A Shin Hikari recorded the same.
In connection with the ceremony, the updated publication of the World’s Top 100 Group 1 races was also released, and the results are highly flattering for Hong Kong. All ten of our international G1s have landed in the top 100, with the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup jumping to ninth overall and the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup a joint eleventh. Eight of the Club’s G1s are now rated in the top 50 of the world, the same number as in America, and second only to the UK. Australia has seven in the top 50 and France and Japan on six each.
These figures are a testament to the Club’s relentless focus to provide a world-leading racing product. That our jurisdiction, which runs less than 800 races per year, has the same number of Group 1 races in the top 50 as the United States, which held nearly 39,000 races last year, is incredible. Our resolve to continue providing a world-class operation to the benefit of our owners, members and customers is unwavering, and we hope to see these numbers go even higher in the future.
Fortunately, I will make it back to Happy Valley in time for racing on Wednesday, where we host our good friends and close racing partners from Japan for our annual Japan Racing Association Trophy race.
It is run as a Class 2 1200m handicap with a rating band of 75 to 95. You Read My Mind and Peace N Prosperity are likely to lead through a good early pace, with Startling Power, making his first start outside of dirt since October 2014, also assuming his traditional role near the front. Happy Yeah Yeah has a good draw on the rail and should be forward with High Volatility and General Iron in a stalking role. Lucky Double Eight, as top weight, should be midpack while Supreme Falcon and Secret Command won’t be far away. Newcomer Furious Pegasus has shown some speed in his trials and could be midpack while Goal For Gold and Divine Boy will be back early.
There is likely enough speed to give Divine Boy a good chance to close into this race again as he looks for four wins in a row. A BMW Hong Kong Derby entrant, his first two wins were very impressive but he had significant traffic issues last time and still managed to get there. Now up to a rating of 91 and off 130 pounds, there are many challenges, but he should get a fair pace and could move up again, making him a win and place chance.
General Iron is twice a course and distance winner this season, though both times was just by a nose. He was three wide without cover last time and now has two main speed threats in Startling Power and You Read My Mind drawn to his inside. This should enable General Iron a chance to get a good position on the rail, making him a place chance for me, along with Secret Command who should get a nice stalking trip and Happy Yeah Yeah who has been working well in the morning.
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