Experience tells us that LONGINES HKIR plans only really come together in the last few weeks before the big event and, with the world still trying to combat the pandemic, this year presents a series of unique challenges.
That said, every week provides us with a few more useful pieces of the puzzle and the last few days have been no exception. Furore was 0-6 in head to heads with Exultant going into the Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse but, with Joao Moreira in the saddle for the first time, he finally mastered his old rival in a strong renewal of Sunday’s highlight.
Exultant was 40lb heavier than for his final two races of last season, so his effort was commendable, and our Horse of the Year should be sharper in condition when he tries to repeat last year’s defeat of Furore in the G2 Jockey Club Cup over 2000m on 22 November.
Sunday also brought interesting news from Ireland, with Aidan O’Brien revealing that his G1 Cox Plate runner-up Armory will return home to Ireland for a Hong Kong Cup preparation. My experience of Aidan suggests that he is a perfectionist – and all his team will be hit hard by the loss of last year’s Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup – but his horses will be more than welcome here in December again if all goes well.
Meanwhile, we remain cautiously optimistic that our Japanese friends will join us again at Sha Tin in December. Sunday’s Tenno Sho Autumn in Tokyo contained numerous HKIR possibles, including the winner Almond Eye, while the third horse Chrono Genesis would be a very worthy contender if connections choose to send her this way.
Sunday’s Sha Tin meeting was notable on several other fronts, with strong local turnover contributing to a record Ladies’ Purse day figure of over HK$1.6 billion, and the positive effect of re-opening 19 Off-Course Betting Branches on raceday was significant.
It has been unfortunate that we have not been able to provide a full OCBB service for much of this year – and we even had to close completely during certain periods – but in recent weeks we have followed careful risk assessment with a phased approach to resume services, especially in relation to racing.
It’s easy to forget that customers who prefer to engage with racing via OCBB’s have been denied that opportunity for almost nine months. The appetite for a return was signalled by the fact all available seats were sold in advance. Indeed, we had to open some branches early because crowds were building and by 1pm there was 96 per cent occupancy across all relevant outlets.
We have had to be even more cautious in relation to Mark Six. We resumed with one draw per week and then moved to two but we had to change the draw days from a Tuesday/Thursday pattern to Tuesday and Friday in order to create more time between draws and avoid overcrowding in OCBB’s. The vast majority of customers buy Mark Six tickets in OCBB’s but, having reactivated around 145,000 accounts and opened 60,000 HKJC eWallet since April we now feel comfortable in moving from one draw per week to two.
We may have to revert to one draw in the event of the sort of major jackpot that can draw over 700,000 customers into OCBB’s but our current plan fits in perfectly with the racing schedule and, if things continue to head in a positive direction, we can plan for further relaxations.
I took some photos in the betting halls while walking around on Sunday and the many spaces showed we can perhaps push further in terms of how many people are allowed there. Sunday’s attendance was just over 5,000, which represented another step in the right direction. We are in discussions with Government as to how we can accommodate more fans and will report as soon as possible once a suitable solution is found.
Wednesday’s Class 2 Hebe Hill Handicap is the final race of the Sha Tin AWT meeting with an extended rating band of 105-80 over 1650m with Kings Shield the likely leader to set a good pace under Zac Purton. Beauty Legacy, Assimilate, Glorious Artist, Alpha Hedge and Touch Of Luck will all be in close contention.
Kings Shield has an excellent record over a track and distance which fits his racing profile perfectly. He should control this race from the outset and is a win and place chance to make all the running.
Elusive State is another track and distance specialist and gets class relief in his return to his preferred trip. He should improve considerably as a place chance. Righteous Doctrine will do his running from the back and comes off an impressive run last month. He is a place chance along with Assimilate.
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