Last Wednesday for our CSL Million Challenge finale at Happy Valley we had another very encouraging evening on the business side, as we registered total turnover of HK$854 million. It’s the second time this month that the turnover at a Happy Valley night meeting has broken the HK$850 million mark. I thought the races last Wednesday were very exciting and had closely competitive fields – factors that I'm sure helped increase our racing fans' interest.
Although CSL Million Challenge leader Loyal Army managed only a fourth place finish in the last race of the evening, he was still able to take this season's championship with 56 points, as all his potential rivals for the top honour failed to win on the night. However, I thought that two of the horses contesting the other prize-money places gave even more impressive performances. One of them was Tai Sing Yeh, a young runner who again showed tremendous acceleration on the home straight to snatch his third winner at the Valley this term and finish runner-up in the Challenge.
Another was Our Lucky Baby, as his wire-to-wire victory on Wednesday extended his winning streak at Happy Valley to seven races and took him to a final fourth place in the Challenge. In an interview after the race, trainer Dennis Yip said he will consider the possibility of sending this Hong Kong International Sale graduate to race overseas. Let’s see if this bold plan can materialise in the future.
These promising performances and the huge support offered by our racing fans have definitely proved the popularity of this Happy Valley series, though that doesn't rule out further enhancements and refinement in the format or mechanism of the Challenge in future. I would like to hear your views and ideas on this.
This Sunday, you can expect more racing excitement on the Sha Tin turf as three great horses Viva Pataca, Collection and Good Ba Ba will be competing in our feature race – the Citibank Hong Kong Gold Cup. Trainer John Moore has had a very impressive record in this Hong Kong Group 1 race and the second leg of our Triple Crown, having won it for three of the past four years. This time he has three of his top runners – Viva Pataca, Collection and Able One – lining up in the race. It will be especially interesting to see whether Viva Pataca can win this classic middle distance event for the third consecutive year, a feat that would follow in the footsteps of the great River Verdon back in the early 1990s.
This veteran stayer, however, will have to face a strong field, as our champion miler Good Ba Ba will be moving up to contest this 2000m race, while the winner and runners-up of last season’s Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby – Collection, Thumbs Up and Mr Medici – will also be among the challengers. So it promises to be an interesting match-up and I hope you will come to watch it live at Sha Tin tomorrow.
Personally, I think it’s a very open race. I like Thumbs Up the most as he just lacked a bit of luck in his close defeat in the Stewards’ Cup. Christophe Soumillon will be riding him again tomorrow and I think he deserves for another Group 1 victory. For John Moore’s runners, although Collection had a disappointing performance last time, I expect him to produce a better run given to the longer distance, and the evergreen Viva Pataca is also capable for a close finish in this event. However, for another veteran Good Ba Ba, he has to face some opponents who are very strong at 2000m, which I think it will be a great challenge for him. If any of the favourites not performing to expectation, I think the ever-consistent Mr Medici will have the chance to get a place in the top three.
Also on Sunday at Sha Tin, you can watch a good Derby prospect in action as the unbeaten Brave Kid will feature in the Citibank Step-Up Interest Account Handicap, seeking his 6th win this term ahead of his challenge in the Derby on March 14. I think he will be the clear favourite and the horse to beat in this race, even he will be running for the first time over 1800m. Among other runners in the field, I think Above All, who has performed nicely in all his three starts at Sha Tin this season, and Beauty Forever, who finished second in his penultimate start in the same distance, will be the main challengers for Brave Kid in this race.
Today we are also simulcasting to Hong Kong the Futurity Stakes – the first leg of the Asian Mile Challenge – along with four other races from Caulfield. Out of the 15 extra simulcast days the Government has allowed us to bring you this season, we have so far arranged five from Australia and I’m delighted to see they've drawn a very positive response from our racing fans. With the European racing season starting in March, we will soon be able to bring you further excitement with simulcasts of the Dubai Super Thursday next week and Dubai World Cup raceday in late March. We'll announce further details of these nearer the date and I hope you will continue to offer us your support.
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