The European football season is coming to its climax. I’m sure many fans have seen the Champions League matches of late and it was certainly sad for me to see two German teams, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, crash out in the quarterfinals. In particular, I think it’s luckless for Bayern as they managed to level the overall tie against Real Madrid in the second leg at the Bernabeu, but succumbed to defeat after playing the extra time with just 10 men. Several key decisions went against Bayern – the sending off was a clean tackle and a goal was allowed despite Ronaldo being clearly offside. Still, it was a fantastic game.
It is a bit more interesting in the English Premier League though. Having left Hong Kong after being here last week, I believe Peter Schmeichel must be very delighted to see United produce, in my opinion, their best performance of the season, defeating Chelsea at Old Trafford last week. The result means Chelsea, once being 13 points clear at the top of the table in mid-March, now only enjoy a four-point lead with six matches to go. There is no league match for them this weekend but they will be playing in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, coincidentally against their title chasers Tottenham Hotspur. I will see if Chelsea can be back to their best tonight. A win will surely be a booster for themselves, at the same time denting their opponents’ confidence.
Having met many happy citizens in our Riding High Together Festival at Sha Tin last week, tomorrow it will be the chance for me to reunite with our many community partners and friends in our Community Day raceday at Sha Tin.
We have 10 races on our card tomorrow and the race highlight is the Class 1 Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Trophy Handicap, which is run as race five. Of the nine starters in this race, four are still 4-year-olds. The Trophy itself was first presented in 1852 to the winner of the Wongneichong Stakes even before the establishment of the Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1884.
The pace is expected to be good to slow with Lucky Girl having the profile of a horse is likely to lead here, having been up front in each of his last three starts. Midnight Rattler often begins well and should drop in straight behind Lucky Girl with California Whip forward too. Fight Hero should be next in line, while the early position of Western Express could force Lucky Year wide. Gonna Run and Limitless should be near the rear.
Two horses working extremely well are California Whip and Western Express. Both are my first choices and while California Whip should be very well positioned in this race, I still prefer Western Express who was in a pocket from the top of the straight until the 300m and finished home strongly. Limitless has to come from the back and the pace is not ideal to him. He has to settle well being a head-strong horse, but with his finishing speed should have a place chance at least. People’s Knight is, with a light weight, another chance for a place.
Comment
