The world is gradually entering a new phase in the fight against coronavirus and racing is moving with it, albeit at different speeds in different places.
France followed Germany in resuming racing behind closed doors on Monday, while Britain and Ireland are hoping to follow suit next month, and we wish them all the best as they bid to make up for valuable lost time at what would normally be the start of their Classic seasons.
Here in Hong Kong, we are working our way through a very different phase of the challenge. The fact that we have never stopped racing has been a huge plus for everyone but being further along the coronavirus curve means that we now have to plan our journey back towards normality very carefully.
It was a pleasure to welcome Voting Members and their guests back to the races at Sha Tin on Saturday – which increased total attendance to 776 people – and we are happy to announce that Members, Racing Club Members and accompanying guests with advance bookings will also be able to attend Happy Valley’s midweek meeting this Wednesday.
As ever, our usual range of health and social distancing precautions will be in place with a maximum of two registered owners allowed Parade Ring access and a maximum of eight people – including trainer, rider and stable staff – in winning photos.
We will continue to dial up and dial down our measures depending on circumstances in the coming weeks but I do believe that Hong Kong and its racing are moving in the right direction again and the action on the track continues to provide plenty of talking points.
Joao Moreira’s Saturday treble leaves him just one behind Zac Purton as their championship battle intensifies, while Antoine Hamelin’s success on Assimilate means that he now has nine winners from nine meetings since joining us at short notice from France a month ago.
Two winners for Vagner Borges means that Joao isn’t the only Brazilian making headlines, but our new apprentice Jerry Chau stole the show on his first day back in Hong Kong with a double for Douglas Whyte and John Moore on Relentless Me and Buddies.
Encouraging homegrown talent has been a recurring theme this year, with Vincent Ho leading the way, and the emergence of a new 10lb claimer always adds an extra layer of intrigue to our valuable handicap races.
Time will tell whether Jerry can replicate the success of Matthew Poon, who raced to 20 winners in just 14 meetings when he returned from Australia in 2017. However, it’s very encouraging to see that five of our top ten active riders learned their trade at the Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School and, with Douglas as his mentor, Jerry clearly has a great opportunity to make his own mark in the months ahead.
Wednesday’s Class 3 Ma Kong Shan Handicap over 1800m is the eighth race of the evening with class, course and distance winner Blastoise looking to repeat his success from two months ago. The pace should be honest, with World Famous and Beauty Happy set to go forward.
World Famous has been freshened up after a tough campaign to earn his place in the BMW Hong Kong Derby. He returns to the top of Class 3 after a solid turf trial and should improve as a place chance under Vincent.
Blastoise rarely runs a bad race and is proven over the distance at the Valley. He will get a nice trip under Hamelin from inside midfield and is a win and place chance.
Vincy showed good improvement in his last start over 2200m and is coming into the race nicely. He will be closing ground over the concluding stages and looks a place chance along with Above, who went for home a long way out when finishing behind Vincy last time but now has Moreira back aboard as he steps back in distance.
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