Fortunately, the Typhoon 8 which lashed Hong Kong on Saturday has not caused any major damage at Sha Tin Racetrack and, after receiving the relevant reports from different departments, we are ready to go with Sunday’s meeting.
Given the amount of rain we have received, I would suggest all customers pay as much attention to the ground conditions, which are currently good to yielding on the turf course and wet-slow for the All Weather track, where four of our 10 races will be decided today.
At Sha Tin on Sunday, the Class 2 Tsuen Lok Handicap will be run as the eighth race over 1200 metres on the All-Weather track and it marks the interesting return of our highest-rated dirt horse, Hongkong Great, for Karis Teetan.
Hongkong Great will go forward but will not be able to dictate. Flying Bonus will be getting 20 pounds from the favourite with Victor Wong and will be on the pace along with We The South and Vagner Borges. Winner Method is another horse with good gate speed and a light weight. He will go forward with Jack Wong and though he has never raced over this surface, he has trialled well in the past. The pace will be good.
The sprint distance of this race presents a challenge for Hongkong Great as his three prior wins on the surface were over 1650 metres. His recent trials have been good, but the 1200m is likely to be too short for him.
He is a Group 1 winner in Chile over 2000m and his three Hong Kong wins were over 1650m on the All Weather. His last win – in track record time – was followed by a 14-point increase in his handicap to a rating of 102, which makes him a place chance at best.
Red Desert, with Antoine Hamelin on board, is working well and has a good draw (gate four), which should help him to be behind the leaders in the run. He handles the wet-slow surface and is a win and place chance.
Man Star, ridden by Matthew Chadwick, is working very well, too, and should make use of his good gate (three) and I see him as a place chance. Silver Fig, partnered by Matthew Poon, has to come from the back of the field but he can run strong last sectionals to be a place chance. At his last run, he was found to have blood in his trachea after scoping.
Flying Bonus was an impressive winner last time over this surface at 1200m and is also a place chance.
Earlier in the day, we feature the Yan Chai Trophy as the sixth race, a Class 4 handicap over 1400 metres. The race sets up nicely for second-up Breeze Of Spring, which will make his bid from midfield along the rail under Joao Moreira behind a good pace. He is a win and place chance. Harmony Win Win is a place chance under three-pound claimer Jerry Chau along with last-start winners Solar Power, who is partnered by Antoine Hamelin, and Super Mission for Matthew Chadwick.
Horseracing has the most wonderful way of divining storylines far beyond the comprehension of mere mortals and so it was on Wednesday night at Happy Valley when Jerry Chau graduated from apprentice to Club freelance rider.
Of the 22 trainers in service in Hong Kong, it was fitting that the privilege of sharing Jerry’s apprentice-ending victory on Transcendent should be Tony Cruz – who was among the first intake of aspiring young riders to the Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School in 1972.
Tony duly progressed to a glittering riding career, winning six champion jockey titles in Hong Kong and riding with distinction abroad before turning to his hand to training, where he has twice been champion handler and is a perennial fixture at the top end of the table.
Armed with decades of experience, Tony understands the machinations of racing better than most. Jerry remains on a steep upward learning curve and where better to gain knowledge than under the wing of 13-time Hong Kong champion jockey Douglas Whyte?
At just 21 years of age, Jerry has applied many of those lessons taught by Douglas to become second-fastest graduate in the Club’s history, taking 639 mounts to earn status as a Club freelance ride – a feat bettered only by Matthew Chadwick, who took just 472 rides.
To put Jerry’s prodigious achievement into context, Matthew Poon (650) and Vincent Ho (727) sit in third and fourth positions, respectively.
Having pressed Vincent in the race for last season’s Tony Cruz award for the best local jockey – also breaking Matthew Chadwick’s record for the most wins in a season by an apprentice (58) – it is worth bearing in mind Douglas’ view that Jerry will continue to improve as a senior rider.
As an Apprentice Jockeys’ School product able to regularly contend against Joao Moreira and Zac Purton, Jerry has provided the best possible advertisement for the Club’s career pathway and he is a credit to all of those who have groomed him along the way.
Like Vincent and others before him, Jerry’s knowledge and experience was honed by a stint aboard and the benefits of the Club’s commitment to these vital learning opportunities is now on fully display.
After just nine meetings, albeit still early in the season, it is no coincidence that Jerry sits fifth in the jockeys’ premiership with five wins behind Zac (17), Joao (13), Alexis Badel (8) and Karis Teetan (6).
As Hong Kong racing continues to grow in popularity, it can only be hoped that Jerry’s rise will inspire other locals to follow their horseracing dreams – whether it be as a trainer, farrier, veterinarian, administrator or strapper.
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