Sunday’s Audemars Piguet QEII Cup was of the most exciting renewals in recent memory. Our champion jockey Joao Moreira produced a masterful ride, making a decisive move midway through the race to steer Neorealism to the front. The Japanese runner fended off the late lunge of Pakistan Star, giving Japan their fourth win in the race, and his trainer Noriyuki Hori an astounding fifth Group 1 win in Hong Kong in just 17 months.
Despite the defeat, I’m sure many of our racing fans were impressed by the run and continuous improvement shown by Pakistan Star. The race wasn’t suited to his running style but he still ran an amazing sub-22 seconds finish, clocking 21.95s for the last 400m. I also thought that Werther ran quite well to be third, particularly as he was found to have substantial blood in his trachea in his post-race veterinary exam.
My special thanks and appreciation goes to our loyal sponsor Audemars Piguet. They will continue sponsoring this race next season – their 20th as a strategic partner, an exciting milestone as Audemars Piguet has been a part of the Club’s development of world-class racing over the last two decades.
Without a doubt, our four-year-olds have acquitted themselves well, not just with Pakistan Star’s great run, but also the win of Eagle Way in the Queen Mother Memorial Cup where the first five finishers were all current four-year-olds. In the broader picture, the solid performances of these up-and-coming young guns shall provide all of us an extra sense of optimism that are ably receiving the baton from our more mature stars as a natural changing of the guard is underway.
What was also clear, of course, is that these performances boosted those of Rapper Dragon’s 4YO Classic Series form even more, which should only help his prospects in the G1 Champions Mile this Sunday.
Before we turn our attention to the G1 double header on Sunday, let’s enjoy more racing as we’ve arranged a special public holiday night race meeting at Happy Valley tonight. Our friends from Melbourne have joined us as tonight’s feature is the Victoria Racing Club Trophy Handicap which is a Class 3 over 1000m.
The C+3 course tonight tends to favour horses on the pace and most of the horses with good form have drawn wide barriers which make it more challenging for them to be in a good position before start turning into the straight. The pace will be good with nine time course and distance winner Ocean Roar with a great draw in barrier one and I expect he will go straight to the lead. Diego Kosta and Perfect Choice will likely track with Circuit King possibly being ridden hard from barrier 12 to go forward too. Diamond Master might drop in next with Radiant Steed. Triumphant Jewel, Our Hero and California Aspar should be next with Right Honourable, Sangria and Colourful Achiever out the back.
Circuit King would be my clear choice if he had not drawn gate 12 and in his last start he failed to muster despite being hard ridden. I still see him as a win and place chance on his good performance last time and being ridden by Neil Callan who is a strong rider. Diamond Master is working well and despite being drawn in gate 10, is a win and place chance especially as he is the choice of Moreira. Diego Kosta is working well and should be well positioned from his good draw in gate two and was placed over course and distance. He is at least a place chance in my view.
Perfect Choice was a little bit disappointing in his last start when having his debut in Hong Kong over the 1000m straight course at Sha Tin and I would not exclude him on his good trial in Happy Valley. He also has solid overseas form with three wins from four starts before coming to Hong Kong. Ocean Roar’s form is not convincing but from gate one, and being down to a rating of 60, may still be a place chance.
Comment
