Our new South African jockey Grant Van Niekerk continued the promising start to his Hong Kong career when racing resumed at Sha Tin last Saturday, scoring a double to match Champion Jockey Zac Purton at the top of the premiership table. The same applied to our new trainer Jimmy Ting, as he was another horseman who achieved a double on the same day, taking his seasonal tally to five wins from just 12 runners.
It was also notable to see two further wins for horses who spent some of the summer at Conghua. The Chris So-trained A Beautiful and Danny Shum’s Regency Bo Bo both spent time at our state-of-the-art training centre on the mainland and both looked in terrific shape on Saturday. A Beautiful looked extremely well, and his coat especially caught my eye. He had one run under his belt and was able to dictate on the speed to take the Fakei Cup. Regency Bo Bo also looked fresh and switched on, too. This is further proof of what our trainers have said for quite some time, that horses in training at Conghua are happy and healthy.
While our freshmen and the addition of Conghua into the Hong Kong racing ecosystem have been the early headlines, it is that exciting time of the season when some of our elite horses begin to gear up for this campaign. Quite a number of them took part in our barrier trials at Sha Tin last Friday, with our reigning Horse of the Year Beauty Generation amongst them. Also stepping out were fellow G1 winners Ivictory, Seasons Bloom and Mr Stunning, as well as new kids on the block like Hot King Prawn and Glorious Forever.
Having reviewed the trials, I was most impressed with the efforts of Ivictory and Hot King Prawn, while Beauty Generation also did well and looked fresh. Some of these horses are going to feature in our G3 events, the Celebration Cup (1400m) and the National Day Cup (1000m), at Sha Tin’s National Day meeting next Monday, while others are likely headed for the G2 events in late October. We will continue to follow their progress and race performances.
I’m sure many of you have enjoyed a wonderful and sweet Mid-Autumn Festival with your families and friends over the past two days. We will extend that joyful atmosphere to Happy Valley tonight with our season’s first Oktoberfest party. Scrumptious German food, chilled beer, exciting games and entertaining performances are all on offer trackside tonight for what is one of our most popular Happy Wednesday themes. Make sure to get to Happy Valley tonight for an unmissable experience.
Some trainers are still chasing for their first win for the season and John Size is among them. Many did expect him to make a slow start but seemingly he has some horses with good chance to get his first win of the season in tonight’s meeting. One of those was Country Star in the Class 4 Nam Fung Handicap (2nd section), who was unlucky and blocked in his last start over 1000m in Happy Valley.
John also has a strong contender in Red Warrior in our cup race tonight, the Hong Kong Country Club Challenge Cup Handicap to be run as a Class 3 over 1650m. The pace of the race is expected to be good to slow and horses sitting closer to the pace would enjoy a slight advantage on the C+3 course.
Multigogo won four times last season, including two under his jockey Jack Wong. The horse led in one of those races and he could be the one to take up the running again. Both My Ally and Our Hero will race prominent, while the rail draw can help Magnetism to secure a reasonable forward spot. Red Warrior may also race closer to the speed as he steps up from 1200m to 1650m. Recent barrier trial winner Rickfield will settle at the rear.
Having a tough trip in his first Hong Kong start over 1200m in Happy Valley three weeks ago, Red Warrior should be benefitted from that run. The 1200m should be short of his best distance as he was a three-time winner over the mile in Great Britain. He is the choice of Zac Purton and he should be well positioned in midfield.
Rickfield who comes from the back has to overcome the slower pace despite the small field. Having a run under his belt, he could be in for a place chance. The same applies to My Ally who ran well 3 weeks ago over 1200m and rallied late. Dropping to Class 3 at the beginning of the season will help. The horse also had a strong form in Europe over 1400m to 1600m, so the extended mile distance at Happy Valley should be ideal for him. Our Hero and Happy Life should improve from their last starts and are other place chances in this race.
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