Slowly but surely, all the pieces are falling into place as we bear down on the LONGINES International Jockeys’ Championship and LONGINES Hong Kong International Races next month.
Months of planning are coming to fruition with less than two weeks to the LONGINES IJC at Happy Valley on Wednesday, 8 December, while our flagship LONGINES HKIR meeting on Sunday, 12 December is now only 15 days away.
The announcement this week of the line-ups for both days – horses and jockeys – was especially encouraging for the Club given the challenges posed by COVID-19.
To have 16 individual international Group 1-winning visitors pitted against six Hong Kong-based G1 winners among the selection for the four G1 features is remarkable when the challenges of international travel and quarantine are factored in.
The presence of Loves Only You, Pixie Knight, Glory Vase, Pyledriver, Salios and Mogul among the overseas brigade is evidence of the quality required to succeed on our biggest day.
For me, Golden Sixty faces one of the most serious challenges of his career so far in the LONGINES Hong Kong Mile against three Japanese Group 1 winners – Danon Kingly, Indy Champ and Salios – while Aidan O’Brien’s filly Mother Earth has also been successful at the elite level.
We are similarly delighted with the confirmed roster of riders for the IJC, where Ryan Moore and Zac Purton will attempt to join Douglas Whyte and Frankie Dettori as three-time winners of the series.
With James McDonald, Joao Moreira, Hollie Doyle, Alexis Badel, Tom Marquand, Vincent Ho, Mickael Barzalona, Yuga Kawada, Damian Lane and Lyle Hewitson in attendance, the competition promises to be more exciting than ever.
Zac continues to ride at the peak of his powers with his Happy Valley treble on Wednesday night pushing his lead in the Hong Kong jockeys’ championship out to 10 over Joao – 40 wins to 30 – and his percentage of top-three placings to rides is 52.3 percent.
There is still a long way to go with 22 meetings of the season completed, but it’s clear Zac has set his mind to winning a fifth title.
Frankie Lor continues to go from strength to strength with another double on Wednesday have 23 winners in the bag already to lead Francis Lui (17), Tony Cruz (16), Jimmy Ting (16) and David Hayes (15).
At his current winning strike rate of nearly 17 percent, Frankie is on target for a career-best number of wins for the season, having prepared 65 winners in three of his four campaigns so far.
On the subject of trainers, it was great to see Danny Shum notch his 700th winner in Hong Kong. Becoming only the ninth trainer in the professional era to reach that number in Hong Kong is another measure of Danny’s consistency and it is clear he has a high opinion of the unbeaten horse who delivered the landmark win – Romantic Warrior, a graduate from the Club’s International Sale in June.
The complete revamping of the Club’s ISG process has seen Romantic Warrior succeed in Hong Kong after being expertly handled as a yearling in the UK by renowned Group 1-winning trainer Brian Meehan. The ISGs undergo thorough conditioning under Brian designed to have them physically and mentally prepared for Hong Kong racing.
Former champion jockey Michael Kinane plays an integral role in the selection of the yearlings with an emphasis on milers and middle-distance horses as we strive to provide our owners with better value and return on investment.
A recent Club policy change reduced the initial rating of Northern Hemisphere Privately Purchased Griffins from 57 to 52. This change has allowed Romantic Warrior to win successive Class 4 races. He is now rated 67 and eligible for the Club’s $600,000 for any ISG able to win in Class 3 in its first full season.
On Sunday, the Chevalier Cup is a Class 1 handicap over a mile and is featured as the seventh of 10 races. Unlike last week’s Group 2 mile won by Golden Sixty, this one will be run at a good tempo. Silver Express will flash his speed from the inside draw under the light weight of Vagner Borges along with last-start winner Kings Shield with Keith Yeung, Buddies with Matthew Chadwick and Voyage Warrior with Ruan Maia.
The honest pace should work to the advantage of Excellent Proposal as he makes his second start of the season and is stepping up to his preferred distance. He has drawn a good barrier with Joao Moreira and will do his running from the back. He is a win and place chance.
Lucky Express was a first-up winner two weeks ago when he benefitted from a good trip to win in this class over 1400 metres. Zac Purton has the return engagement and will get every chance from midfield. I make Lucky Express a place chance.
Fast Most Furious just missed when second behind Lucky Express with a strong finish in his seasonal debut. He has once again drawn a wide gate and will go back in the run with Matthew Poon. He is a place chance along with Silver Express.
Three of the runners in the Chevalier Cup hold an HKIR entry. Lucky Express and Excellent Proposal are entered in the Mile and Butterfield is entered in the Vase.
Earlier in the day, the G1 Japan Cup will be simulcast from Tokyo Racecourse with the Aidan O’Brien-trained Broome and Japan scheduled to come on to Hong Kong for HKIR on 12 December.
Contrail is making the final start of his career and is a win and place chance coming off a big run in the Tenno Sho Autumn four weeks ago. He has been consistent in top class races throughout his career and is proven over the trip. Yuichi Fukunaga has the ride and will also be joining us for HKIR.
Shahryar is a three-year-old Deep Impact colt and winner of this year’s Japanese Derby, strong credentials coming into a Japan Cup. He is a course and distance winner, and is a place chance along with Authority with Christophe Lemaire and Aristoteles with Takeshi Yokoyama.
Comment
