Approaching the midway stage of another compelling season, the HK$12 million Hong Kong Classic Mile – the first leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series – shapes as one of the most intriguing races of 2021.
Crammed with high quality entries, Sunday’s race at Sha Tin has attracted a fascinating blend of potential specialist milers, emerging middle-distance performers heading to the Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) aspirants.
Given the prestige and lucrative nature of Sunday’s race, where we await the clash between Sky Darci, Enrich Delight, Excellent Proposal, Beauty Joy, The Summit, Shadow Hero, Tourbillon Diamond, Lucky Patch, Tsar and Russian Emperor, to name just a few, it is clear we have a very exciting series on our hands.
The overseas history of this cohort suggests elite quality. Shadow Hero is a dual G1 winner from Australia. The Summit was runner-up in the G1 French 2000 Guineas and Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby), Russian Emperor is a G3 Royal Ascot victor, who will certainly be at his peak for the Hong Kong Derby.
While Excellent Proposal, Sky Darci, Enrich Delight, Lucky Express, Tourbillon Diamond and Lucky Patch have already won in Hong Kong, we can expect others such as Beauty Joy, who ran very well on debut, to contend strongly.
While victory in any single leg of these races would be wonderful for the connections of any of these fine gallopers, the heralding of the Classic Series revives wonderful memories of Golden Sixty’s imperious domination last year.
For me, the advance of Golden Sixty to the pinnacle of Hong Kong racing – and acclamation on the international stage – with 11 consecutive wins, crowned by defeat of accomplished world-class visitors in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile in December, is instructive in the context of the value of the Classic Series.
Spread over three months, and incrementally stretched in distance, the beauty of the Series is that it provides ample opportunities for different types of horses with different racing patterns and characteristics. This variety of style is vital the overall health of our racing.
The Hong Kong Classic Mile is just one of three tremendous races on Sunday but, before we cast our minds completely to the future, the feat of Antoine Hamelin bears re-telling. It was simply outstanding.
Antoine partnered five of the 10 winners on the card at Sha Tin last Sunday, an accomplishment achieved by only 12 other jockeys over the past four decades in Hong Kong racing.
His effort again underlined the broad talent range in Hong Kong racing and the virtue of persistence.
With eight wins from his first 240 rides this season, Antoine conjured a career-best five-timer against the best jockeys in the world in a racing jurisdiction where millimetres often prove the difference between victory and defeat.
At Happy Valley on Wednesday night, the first section of Class 3 Sheung Hei Handicap over 1200 metres is the final race of the programme and another in a long list of competitive races at the city circuit. The pace will be moderate with Smoothies (Dylan Mo), Kinda Cool (Joao Moreira), Baby (Vagner Borges), Beauty Kobe (Matthew Poon) and Igniting (Zac Purton) all involved in establishing the running. There is no clear leader.
Loving A Boom (Christophe Soumillon) has run well in defeat in his last two runs when beaten by Happy Valley Million Challenge point leader Grateful Heart. His performance last start was commendable given that he had no room was checked near the 150m mark before running on well to finish fourth. He draws a better gate this time and will be closing the race off strongly as a win and place chance.
Here Comes Ted (Karis Teetan) steps up in grade after a last-start win and some good form in Class 4. He has drawn well, is in light at the weights and will get every chance from midfield. He is a place chance along with last-start winners Baby and Kinda Cool, both of which have been freshened at Conghua. Baby will get a box seat run from his inside draw whilst Kinda Cool will need to use his tactical speed and energy to avoid getting caught wide from gate eight. Kinda Cool is an emerging four-year-old talent but has gone up 14 points in the handicap, presenting another dimension to his challenge.
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