While we prepare for our first pattern races of the season, racing fans from all over the world will focus on action tomorrow from Chantilly Racecourse as the latest renewal of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will be run there.
The Club has simulcast this world-class event from France for more than 20 years. Our first Arc simulcast was dated back in 1994, when French sensation Carnegie took the prestigious prize, reaching the pinnacle of European racing success. It is delightful for us to give Hong Kong fans the chance watching the Arc live every year. From that we are able to take our fans closer to top events in global racing. It’s also a good benchmark race for our fans, as many Arc runners, and others from the relevant Group races on the card, have come to Hong Kong for our international races just two months later.
The leading hopefuls of the Arc race this year includes Coronation Cup and Juddmonte International winner Postponed, who is on a six-race winning streak, Japanese raider Makahiki who was thriving in his fast gallop at Chantilly earlier this week, and also dual Derby winner Harzand. It will surely be a very exciting and enjoyable race for all this weekend.
Earlier on Sunday, we will simulcast the Sprinters Stakes and another five races on the undercard in Nakayama. The home winners of this race for the past seven years, such as Lord Kanaloa, Curren Chan and Straight Girl, all eventually came to participate in the Hong Kong Sprint, with Lord Kanaloa’s double being a particular highlight. It is possible we will see a selection of Sprinters Stakes runners on these shores come 11 December.
So, I will take the flight to Paris tonight following what looks to be an exciting National Day meeting, formally marking the start of our pattern race season with both the National Day Cup for sprinters and then the Celebration Cup.
We recorded more than 130 millimetres of rain in Sha Tin during last night’s thunderstorms, which would have led many other jurisdictions to abandon racing, but our track has held up well and was rated yielding as of mid-morning. I recommend monitoring the conditions closely throughout the day as we race very seldom on yielding tracks, which may not suit some horses who need a good or good to firm going while others can surprise in this conditions.
The National Day Cup is the first Group Race of the season and has attracted a small but high-class field. Being run under handicap conditions over the 1000m straight course gives some specialists like Amber Sky a chance to be competitive against horses like Peniaphobia and Not Listenin’tome. It seems fairly straightforward that Amber Sky should definitely be the leader in this group. Both Peniaphobia and Not Listenin’tome should not be far behind, and won’t want to give Amber Sky too long of a lead. Amazing Kids will likely slot in next with Domineer near him. Golden Harvest and All You Wish should be trailing after the field settles.
Both Peniaphobia and Not Listenin’tome are working very well and there is not much between them. In my view, Not Listenin’tome feels more at home over the straight 1000m than Peniaphobia, even though both have three wins over course and distance in their records. Combined with the slight weight advantage and having won on soft tracks in Australia, I prefer Not Listenin’tome over Peniaphobia. Horses competing for third are Amber Sky, a distance specialist having run well over 1200m in his season debut, and Amazing Kids, who is training well and should benefit from the fast pace.
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