The quality of our elite four-year-olds was put to the test at Sha Tin last Sunday and they passed with flying colours. Mr Stunning was the first who impressed me as he took the Sprint Cup in style, scoring a comfortable win over Peniaphobia. His win has confirmed the John Size trainee as a major contender in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize next month.
Some half an hour later it was the turn of our Derby winner Rapper Dragon in the Chairman’s Trophy. He trounced an exceptional field which included six G1 winners. Not only did he succeed in extending his winning sequence, but he also gave a boost to the Derby form and our 4-year-old crop this year. For what its worth, Beauty Generation and Eagle Way added to that with a thrilling finish in our 2200m event later in the day.
Of course it will be a bit premature to say these young talents are now accepting the baton relayed from their elder counterparts, but I must say their strong performances further proved their credentials and created an extra sense of optimism and anticipation before they are to face international opposition in their next starts.
Today we announce the list of selected runners for the first of our three spring international features, the G1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin on 30 April. As you can expect, we have a field that includes some runners from last week’s Chairman’s Trophy, along with several overseas challengers sure to make the race a prime test for the home competition. This race has a storied history and I will offer some more thoughts on this HK$20 million showpiece later. It is worth noting that Werther put in a tremendous run in the Chairman’s Trophy and it should ensure he is spot-on to defend his title from last year. In the meantime, you can access different Club channels to see which local and overseas runners are selected.
Tonight at Happy Valley, we welcome our friends from Singapore as we will be hosting the Singapore Turf Club Trophy. Of course, the Singapore Turf Club is one of our close partners as a member of the Asian Racing Federation Executive Council and a key commingling partner. The Singapore Turf Club Trophy is run as race six and is a Class 3 Handicap over 2200m of the A course. It is, in my view, the most difficult race to predict the outcome because we have a lot of course and distance specialists taking this opportunity to run over the distance, plus some horses stepping up to this distance which requires stamina they have not yet proven.
Furthermore, the pace is expected to be slow, but in some of the last staying races in Happy Valley you saw some midway moves when horses from the back realise this slow pace gave them little chance, so they came around the field to inject pace.
These 2200m races feature a quick run to the first turn, so the first 100 metres is incredibly important to gain early positioning. Works Of Art and Jolly Gene are likely to go forward with no other real pace pressure likely. Industrialist Way and Sharp Sailor might track them with The Sylph behind on the rail saving ground. Happy Rocky should land in midfield with Happy Contender potentially caught wide. Rickfield could be rear of mid-division with Andoyas and White Magic near the back in the early going.
Andoyas, Sharp Sailor, Jolly Gene and Happy Rocky are all course and distance winners. Most especially, I like Andoyas because he is working very well despite have to overcome the slow pace and likely will have to come from last. I also like Jolly Gene who is in good form and should be well placed in front of the field. Rickfield is working very well and despite never having run at the 2200m distance in Hong Kong, I don’t foresee him having trouble with the trip as he is a winner over 2000m in France. When he won at Happy Valley over 1800m, he made a surprise early move and showed great stamina doing so.
Industrialist Way should be perfectly placed just behind the leader and with Kei Chiong riding with a five-pound claim, is a win and place chance for me and can reverse his third placing to Andoyas from January when beaten one and a quarter lengths while now meeting him under more favourable handicapping conditions. Amazing Gold is bred to stay the distance and has improved in his work and can be a surprise winner, as could be Happy Contender, who was beaten only a nose by Andoyas in January and seems to perform better in Happy Valley.
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