Our Happy Valley Million Challenge winner from this season, Packing Dragon, earned his fourth win of the season at Happy Valley on Wednesday, and made it a sixth career win – all of them earned at the city track. That was quite a feat for this late bloomer, also the half-brother to our two-time Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon, and I will be seeing if he can climb the ladder further in future class races.
Earlier this week, the IFHA announced the latest LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. Our recent international winners also earned fine marks in the latest standings, as APQEII Cup winner Neorealism and Chairman’s Sprint Prize victor Lucky Bubbles are both rated 119 for their victories over the past fortnight.
In the meantime, a few Hong Kong horses are preparing to race out of Hong Kong in the coming weeks. Both Romantic Touch and Marvel Hero are off to Macau next week for the Macau Hong Kong Trophy while our Champions Mile and Hong Kong Mile winners from this season, Contentment and Beauty Only, have both accepted invitations to run in the Yasuda Kinen in four weeks time. We will simulcast our annual meeting with Macau next Saturday and of course, the Yasuda Kinen during our 4 June meeting. I am sure our many racing fans will continue to follow the related news in the coming weeks.
This weekend, as Sunday is Mother’s Day, we have arranged a Saturday race meeting at Sha Tin, and it is our annual Chairmen’s Day with nine of our 10 races named for previous club chairmen. In advance of Mother’s Day, I’d like to wish all of you and enjoyable day and hope you have a good time with family and loved ones.
Today’s third race is the Macwhinnie Cup, a Class 1 handicap over 1400m. Even though we have only a field of seven, this is still a competitive race and the good pace should ensure that every horse has a chance to show his potential, especially the two up-and-coming 4-year-olds, Winner’s Way and California Whip. Pablosky and Horse Of Fortune are likely to go to the lead with Lucky Year and Winner’s Way following them. The third flight will likely hold Eroico and California Whip with Midnight Rattler at the rear.
Winner’s Way and California Whip are both working very well and have a good chance to win the race, especially because both have further potential for improvement. I prefer Winner’s Way being a three-time winner from only eight starts in Hong Kong and having a good turn of foot. The main challenger for them is Lucky Year who is working well and is in good form, beaten only a short head over course and distance in his last start. Midnight Rattler is a place chance after beating Lucky Year in his last start, but his form is a little bit erratic and is not as reliable as the others.
Pablosky is in good form, but I have some doubt of him staying the 1400m while all his wins are at 1200m on the dirt track. Eroico, with his two wins and one second on the dirt, could be on his mark on the turf while Horse Of Fortune needs some more relief in the handicap and is better suited to a longer distance than 1400m.
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