As I have said before in my blog, while it can seem a cliché to say that sports transform lives, sometimes it really can. On Monday I attended the launch of the latest phase of the Jockey Club Youth Football Leadership Scheme, whereI heard the rather touching story of Winnie, one of the graduates of last year's programme. Winnie explained how her father had died when she was young, and how her mother, who thought football was not for girls, initially opposed her interest in the sport. Encouraged by her teacher, however, she enrolled in the Club's leadership scheme, where she was rated an outstanding performer and attended an exchange with Manchester United in the UK. She is now a PE teaching assistant in her mother school and plays for Sha Tin in the Women's Football League, and her self-confidence is such that she was the MC for Monday's press conference! This type of development is great to see and hear.
We have seen a great run from some of our visiting jockeys on short-term licenses in the past, but I think all race fans will agree that the local performance of Silvestre De Sousa over the last few weeks will be remembered for some time to come. Silvestre has 16 wins so far this term from just 92 rides, good for a joint seventh at present in the season-long premiership. This week he will ride in the final two meetings of his current stint and we wish him the best upon his return to the UK.
There was no forgetting about Joao Moreira, who landed a double on Sunday, and is now at the 90-win mark for the season. This came a month earlier as he surpassed that mark on the Derby day last season. It will be interesting to see how far Joao can go this term.
Certainly I did not miss the two exciting English Premier League top-table clashes on Sunday, with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur emerging as victors. Now Leicester City remain on top, but Tottenham and Arsenal are both lurking, just two points behind in second and third. It was very entertaining and I believe it will be quite likely that the winning title might not be decided until the very last match in May.
Our Happy Valley Million Challenge series has been similarly entertaining this season. With just two race meetings left, there are just 11.5 points gap for the top six horses on the leaderboard. General Iron is the only horse of that batch to run tonight. He could leap to the top of the standing if he takes the final race of this evening, the Class 3 Tsuen Wan Handicap.
In this Class 3 1000m sprint, our handicappers have extended the rating band of this race to 85 to 60, which makes horses like Happy Yeah Yeah, Imperial Champion and General Iron eligible to run in this race, despite having ratings over 80 which forces under normal circumstances to run in Class 2 races.
The tempo looks like being hot here, with Imperial Champion, Harbour Alert and Call Me Achiever all having good gate speed and capable of setting strong early fractions. Drawn to start from barrier 2, Imperial Champion is likely to be the one of to get to the rails. Beauty Master can follow this trio, with Happy Meteor to his outside. After that it could be the ever-consistent General Iron, who may also get to the fence. Mr Right is awakardly drawn but he has proved to be both genuine and tactically versatile. With his speed he can let his jockey to decide running early or late, depending on the circumstances.
Being on the pace is a significant advantage in a Happy Valley 1000m sprint, but the pace could be that hot to give horses behind midfield a chance to come with a late run and be successful. Mr Right with Joao Moreira on board is one of my selections because he is in good form and is working very well. He will settle at the back of the field from gate 10 but he will run home strongly. The same applies to Smart Declaration who starts from gate 11, will settle back in the field and running home strongly under Gerald Mosse.
For Imperial Champion, it's a different story from his good draw in gate 2. He will be on the pace and with blinkers applied, he seems to be refocused and is a win and place chance too. General Iron should be well positioned just behind the pace in midfield. With Ryan Moore on board he's a place chance in my view.
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