I'm sure most of you watched the exciting Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup race at Sha Tin last Sunday. Though reigning horse of the year Good Ba Ba could only manage second in this Group One event, I would concur with some of my media friends that he gave quite a meritorious performance, considering that 1400m is not his best distance.
But I must say I was thrilled to see the dominating wire-to-wire effort by Egyptian Ra, with veteran rider Felix Coetzee putting in a fantastic performance to help this horse secure its first Group One victory. After the race, trainer Tony Cruz said he may consider sending this horse to Tokyo to take part in the top Japanese mile event, the Yasuda Kinen, in June. Before then, however, I hope both Egyptian Ra and Good Ba Ba can maintain their good form to give us another great battle in their next target race - the Champions Mile - next month.
Tony Cruz is a trainer who will always encourage his Owners to let their horses participate in overseas races, if he believes they have the credentials to do Hong Kong proud. I'm sure you can all remember the successes of Silent Witness and Bullish Luck in Japan, while Floral Pegasus and Multidandy have given good accounts of themselves in Dubai.
In fact, it's never easy for a racehorse to get good results in overseas races, as the horse needs to acclimatise after its long-haul travel, while the trainer also needs to ensure his runner is eating well in the new environment. However, victory in a top overseas race not only brings prestige and honour to the Owner, but also to Hong Kong racing as a whole. It displays to other racing jurisdictions and overseas horsemen what high standards and quality can be found in our racing here.
On Monday another one of our horses left for overseas combat - prominent dirt runner Lucky Quality who will contest the US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen on 28 March. This is the first time ever that trainer Me Tsui has sent a runner from his stable to race abroad, and I very much appreciate Tsui and Owner Dr Peter Wu for their bold decision to let Lucky Quality represent Hong Kong at this top international racing carnival. It will not be easy for Lucky Quality as he will come head-to-head with some other very distinguished dirt sprinters from the USA, Dubai and elsewhere, and have to cope with the dirt surface in Dubai which is very different to Hong Kong. But the horse is in a great form on dirt this season and I hope he can adapt to the surface and put in a world-beating performance at Nad Al Sheba.
Given the steady rise in Hong Kong's racing standards in recent years, I am optimistic that more Owners will see the benefit of testing their horses in major overseas races in the future, which in turn will bring more pride and honour to Hong Kong. This is also the reason why we hope the government can relax the current limitation on overseas simulcast races, to give local racing fans a chance to watch and cheer for our racehorses running overseas.
Back to our races at Happy Valley tonight, we also have some exciting races on the card and I shall be watching the performances of Real Special and Dragon Eye. Real Special snatched a runner-up finish in his sole placegetting run this season, at the distance of 2200m at Happy Valley. Let's see if this four-year-old gelding can repeat that decent performance when he's partnered by Douglas Whyte and running at the same distance tonight.
As a consistent performer, Dragon Eye claimed his maiden win in Hong Kong in his start before last at Happy Valley last month. He then added a second when he was featuring in a Class 3 race two weeks later. Tonight, this in-form horse will be teaming up with his winning partner Derek Leung again. With the 10-pound allowance given, I hope this advantage will help him repeat that success this evening.
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